


A second Chance

by Nannakumi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Canon Divergence - Post-Hogwarts, De-Aged Severus Snape, Family, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Not Epilogue Compliant, Severus Snape Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26676262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nannakumi/pseuds/Nannakumi
Summary: “Sev?” Dad speaks again and the memories are back. Those are not his memories, but everything looks so real! He can remember the taste of the warm milk, the feeling of dad holding him, murmuring things to make him feel better. How can that be?Then he recognizes the place where he is, except everything is bigger, much bigger than he remembers, or perhaps, he thinks as he sees his hands for the first time, has he become small? Could that have been a bad dream and this the real life?
Relationships: Harry Potter & Severus Snape
Comments: 19
Kudos: 102





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This story came from a dream I had, which it's strange considering I had been reading tons of Severus adopts Harry Potter fics. Anyway, after waking up I thought it made for an interesting concept so I started writting it and here it is.

_“_ _...You betrayed us!”_

_“Expeliarmus!”_

_After that there was only pain. Pain, hunger, cold, and more pain were the only things clear in his mind. Days spent in complete darkness, alone, with nothing to eat, nothing to protect him from the cold till he lost the count. Days filled with pain, mockery and torture where he wished for death to come. It never did thought. Whether it was hours, days, weeks or months he didn’t know._

_“Still refusing to talk, I see.” he knew the Dark Lord was standing in front of him, but even raising his head had become too hard this days. There was a hand in his chin abruptly lifting his head until he was looking at his red eyes. Breath, in and out, in and out, and repeat again._ _Occlude._ _Then hitting the floor and more pain again. Perhaps this time he would finally be allowed to die. “It doesn’t matter ... Three days…. will be over.” It was as if a light was had turned on in his brain and pushed the pain away. Breath, in and out, repeat again and concentrate. He had to learn every word, commit everything into his memory and then escape before it was too late. Concentrate. One more, only one job more…_

“Are you alright?” Remus Lupin is suddenly crouching in front him.

“Three days...!” he had to tell them, they had to know! “Three days...!”

“Three days?” Lupin frowns in confusion before his eyes go wide. He then turns around towards the other people in the room. Were there that many people before? “Harry! I think he isn’t feeling well!”

Yes, yes, call for Potter! He had to tell Potter, he had to-

A tall man comes to stand next to Lupin so he can’t see his face until he crouches. He gives a step back. When had Potter become so old? Certainly he hadn’t been away that long, right?

“... are you alright?” he shakes his head and Potter frowns, “Did you have a bad dream again?”

Bad dream? Suddenly his head is filled with strange memories… Nights with mom and dad, warm milk, cuddling, sleeping in their bed… But it was imposible! None of that had happened, he was sure of it! Could he be hallucinating?

“Sev?” Dad speaks again and the memories are back. Those are not his memories, but everything looks so real! He can remember the taste of the warm milk, the feeling of dad holding him, murmuring things to make him feel better. How can that be?

Then he recognizes the place where he is, except everything is bigger, much bigger than he remembers, or perhaps, he thinks as he sees his hands for the first time, has he become small? Could that have been a bad dream and this the real life?

Sev raises his head and sees Potter is still looking at him. Everything is silent, and everyone is looking at him as thought they had seen a ghost. Certainly he isn’t one, is he? It can’t be, he is sure at least of that, so he nods when Potter repeats the question about bad dreams again.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Sev shakes his head and looks at the two men, then at his hands again.

There’s a hand in his forehead. It feels warm and Sev likes it so he leans forward. Then, the hand goes away and he is lifted from the floor and held in dad’s arms. He is saying something, but everything is so confusing and his head is pounding so much that Sev decides to ignore it. Instead he puts his head in the crouch of dad’s neck, closes his eyes and holds hard.

By the time he’s put down they are in another room filled with toys, a crib and the bed where dad is sitting as well.

Dad takes a stuffed rabbit from the bed and holds it close. It’s Babbity Rabbity! Babbity Rabbity is his bestest friend in the world, so he takes it and hugs as tight as he can.

“Are you feeling better?” Potter asks, looking so worried it makes him feel uncomfortable. Why would Potter worry so much about him? “Sev, look at me.” His voice is gentle, but there’s something else behind that and it makes him feel so uncomfortable that he holds to the stuffed rabbit with all his strength and turns to look at the blue quilt.

Everything is silent and he feels as if he was a child again after father had drunk too much, so he closes his eyes and waits.

“Sev?” Potter asks, his voice calm, “Was it a very bad dream?”

Sev nods, gathering a little courage to look at dad this time.

Dad keeps looking at him directly in the eyes and pases a hand trough his hair like when there’s a difficult case at work. Of course he knows he’s supposed to be sleeping by that time, but he can’t help seeing dad talk about his cases with mom sometimes.

“Ok,” dad says, crouching a little, but still looking at his eyes, “I think I know a way to make you feel better, but I need you to keep looking at my eyes, alright?”

Sev nods. Everything is so confusing he’s doesn’t know what’s happening anymore.

“Very good.” dad gives him a little smile, “It is going to feel a little strange but I promise it won’t hurt you.”

Sev nods. Of course dad would never hurt him, even with all that’s happening he knows that much.

“Ready?”

Sev nods again and looks at dad’s eyes.

“Legimens.”

Sev’s head feels a little strange for a second before there’s a rush of memories inside his head. There’s the afternoons with dad when he was really small and before mom came to live with them, playing with Teddy, Christmas at grandma’s and grandpa’s house, mom and dad’s wedding when he and Teddy ruined the cake and grandma saved them, flying with mom in her broom, and many, many more. Then they stop and Sev is sitting again in his bed next to dad. He smiles and gives him big hug while wondering how could he have forgotten all that.

“How are you feeling?” mom asks. Sev let’s dad go and hugs her as well, happy that this is real and that was only a dream. “I am glad.” Mom says and sits on the bed with him in her lap.

Sev smile is bigger. He’s still a little confused, and there’s still those strange memories inside his head, but doesn’t feel half as bad anymore. Mom and dad are with him and they always make everything better.

He stays with mom for a bit, before getting down to get Babbity Rabbity who had fallen off the bed. At the same time, there’s a cry and Sev looks towards the crib at the other side of the room as mom stands up. She picks a baby from the crib and bounces him in her arms until he calms down. Then, she comes back to the bed.

“This is your brother James, remember?”

New memories come back. Mom’s big stomach with the baby inside, baby James after he came from the hospital some months ago, Sev hitting James because all he did was cry all the time and dad and mom getting angry because of that, playing with James in the living room, making some bubbles and making James laugh, then running with mom and dad to show them his new magic.

Sev leaves Babbity Rabbity on the bed and sits down in it at the same time he extends his arms. Mom smiles and sits James in his lap. Sev hugs him tight, but not enough to make him cry. Then, carefully he makes him lay down in his lap. He raises his hands a little and concentrates as he makes a circle with his fingers and blows softly. A small colorful bubble comes out followed by many more. In his lap baby James laughs as he kicks and tries to catch the bubbles.

Sev raises his head and sees mom and dad are smiling the same as that time. He smiles as well.

James decides to roll at that moment and mom takes him back before gets close to the edge of the bed. Sev looks around the room and notices a mirror in the door of his wardrobe. He gets down from the bed and goes to look on it. There’s a little boy on the mirror looking at him.

“I am small.” he says, looking at his small hands, first on his body and then in the mirror. “I am small.” He repeats again, this time with fascination as he examines his young face. The black eyes and hair are still there, the same as the pale skin and the long nose, but he’s not as thin as he remembers. 

Dad stands from the bed and crouches next to him, “Of course you are small. You just turned seven, remember?”

Sev frowns and looks at his hands again before raising his head. “I wasn’t small before.” he turns to dad frowning again. How could that be?

Dad closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before talking, “Of course you are. You are Albus Severus Potter and today is your birthday, remember?”

Sev looks at his reflection once again, “Albus… Severus Snape,” he says, very slowly, but then shakes his head because that isn’t right. “Albus Severus Potter” he says this time and then repeats it again and again and again until he’s sure he’s learn it by heart.

“Is it better now?”

Sev nods.

“Do you want to go back?”

He shakes his head this time. Then he looks at dad and keeps looking at him in silence, one question filling his mind. He wants to know, he really wants to know but at the same time he’s scared of getting an answer. Instead, he just keeps looking at dad while trying to gather the courage to talk.

“James is getting a little fussy. I am going to take him back to the party while you two talk.” Mom says.

Dad nods and mom goes out of the room taking James with her. Then he turns to Sev again and sighs.

“I wanted to wait for you to be older before having this talk but if things are as they think they are I suppose there’s no use in waiting anymore.” he says in a low voice, but Sev can still hear him so he holds onto dad’s shirt and keeps looking at him. Dad sighs again. “Do you really want to know? Because is not… Well, it really isn’t a story for a seven year old.”

But Sev nods with all his might because everything is so confusing and he really, really wants to know.

Dad sighs again before picking Sev into his arms and taking him back to the bed.

“Alright. Let me see… Where do I start?”

Sev gets down from his lap and sits on the bed, holding Babbity Rabbity once again.

“Why am I so small?” Severus asks and then tries to explain, but all his seven year old mind can manage is: “I wasn’t small before.”

Dad looks at him, sighing once again while passing a hand through his head.

“Well, long, long ago there was a very evil man.” Dad starts, “His name was-”

“Voldemort!” Sev says because he remembers that name.

Dad nods, “You are right. He was a very evil man and hurt a lot of people, specially those like your aunt Hermione-”

“Muggleborns!” interrups Severus because he knows that as well. “He was a very bad man.” He frowns, some blurry memories coming into his mind before he turns to look at dad again.

Dad nods again, “You are right. He was very evil so lot’s of people were fighting against him, including me and your aunts and uncles. The leader of our side was a man called-”

“Albus Dumbledore!” Severus says proudly.

“Right again.” Dad smiles and messes his hair. Then the smile disappears as he starts to talk again, “Helping Albus Dumbledore was another man. His name was…”

Sev knows that as well, but instead of interrupting this time, he holds Babbity Rabbity tighter as dad says the name.

“He was a spy.” Dad explains, “That means he would act as if he was one of the bad guys to get information and then tell it to Dumbledore so we could fight Voldemort. Are you ok?”

Sev nodds, but dad must have seen he wasn’t alright because he picks him up and sits him in his lap facing his chest and hugs him tightly.

“Do you want me to continue?”

Sev nods. He’s scared, but he really, really has to know so he keeps nodding until he hears dad sigh again.

“Very well,” Dad says. He doesn’t sound very happy, but Sev holds into his shirt and keeps nodding until dad starts talking again, “well, lets say, he was very, very good at his job and kept helping our side even after Dumbledore died.>>

<<You see, when Dumbledore died, Professor Snape made us think he was one of the bad guys, but it had been a plan so that Voldemort would name him Headmaster of Hogwarts. That way he could protect the students and keep helping us because none of the bad guys would suspect him.”

“But that didn’t happen, right?” Sev holds even tighter and closes his eyes.

Dad strokes Sevs hair and gives him a kiss on the head.

“You are right.” he says and Sev thinks he has never heard him so sad before, “He was discovered at some point and the bad guys hurt him very very much. They wanted him to tell them Dumbledore’s plan, but he never did no matter what.”

“And you didn’t help him.” Severus wants to cry, but dad gives him the tightest hug in the world and strokes his hair. Sev closes his eyes and it makes him feel better.

“No, we did not.” Dad says, in a very low voice a while, “I wish we had, but you see, we thought he was one of the bad guys so we didn’t know what had happened to him.”

Sev nods because he knows dad is saying the truth and that he would never let anyone hurt him.

“Then one day he heard something very, very important. He knew he had to tell us, so using the last of his magic he somehow managed to escape and found us. Then he told us Voldemort’s plan and we were able to stop him and win the war.”

“And then what happened?” he asks because as much as he tries to remembers there are no memories after that.

“Well, he was really, really hurt. We tried to help him, we really did but-”

“He died!?”

“No, he did not.” Dad strokes his hair once more and then him a kiss in the head, before moving him a little until he is looking at his face. “You know your aunt Hermione likes to read a lot, right?”

Sev nods. Aunt Hermione has the biggest library in the world and she lets him look at the books and even reads the difficult ones to him, but she never, ever let’s Severus touch the ones on the top of the shelves. He pouts.

Dad laughs a bit and Sev headbutts him because he always does that when he complains about aunt Hermione’s books. They always says Sev is too small to read those and it’s not fair, because Sev is seven already and a big boy.

Dad rubs his chin and says: “I promise you will be able to read them when after you get you Owls, but not before. They are just too advanced for you and you wouldn’t understand anything anyway.”

Sev frowns and crosses his arms because that’s a very long time and he doesn’t like to wait. Stupid adults and their stupid rules, he thinks, but doesn’t say it because he knows dad would get angry.

“Would you like me to finish the story?”

Sev looks at him and for a second wants to say no and tell dad to go away, but he really, really wants to know so he nods instead.

“Alright. So where was I?”

“You were saying something about aunt Hermione.”

“Thank you.” Dad tries to mess up his hair, but Sev stops his hand and glares at him. Dad gives him a big smile and Severus wants to headbutt him again, but doesn’t do it because he wants to hear the end of the story. “So you see, your aunt Hermione found about a potion that would be able to help him, but we must have done something wrong with the potion” dad laughs a little and Severus glares at him again because of course he would mess up the potion. Dad however doesn’t see his glare and just keeps talking, “Well, after we gave him the potion there was a big reaction and when it finished instead of Professor Snape, there was a baby on the bed.”

Severus looks at him incredulously because even after searching inside his memories he doesn’t understand how that could have happened.

“Then,” dad continues as if nothing had happened, “we tried to reverse the magic, but we couldn’t so well…” dad scratches the back of his head, “I decided to adopt you instead.”

“Really?”

Dad nods, his face turning serious again, “Well, even if we didn’t get along very well, Professor Snape did a lot of things to help me and keep me safe so I thought it was the least I could do.”

Sev nods, not entirely sure why, but still does it. Then turning to look at dad again, he asks: “But you love me, right?”

Dad looks surprised for a second, but then hugs Sev again. It’s a biggest hug than before and it gives Sev the answer even before dad talks again. “Of course I do,” he says softly, like the time Sev felt out of his new broom and hit his head. “You are my son, and will always love you no matter what.”

Sev closes his eyes and buries his head in dad’s shirt as he takes deep breaths, taking in dad’s smell as he always does after a bad dream.

“You know, we used to call you Albus when you were a baby, but after you started talking you would demand we called you Severus so we started calling you by your middle name instead.”

Severus let’s go and smiles because he loves when dad tells him stories about when he was small. Then picks up Babitty Rabbity and ask for another story. After a couple more, Sev gets down from the bed.

“Can we go back now?” It’s his party after all and there’s no way he’s going to miss it, weird memories or not.

By the time they get to the end of the stairs, Sev is almost wanting to go back to his room again. There’s too much noise and suddenly he’s not sure if he wants to face all the people that used to know him before. Dad must have seen something in his face because he picks him up and carries him to the living room. He sits with Sev on his lap in one of the chairs from where they can see the party.

“Are you feeling better?” Uncle Remus asks after they sit down.

Sev nods.

“I am glad.”

Sev smiles and holds Babbity Rabbity tight while looking at the coffee table and then at uncle Remus with eyes as big as he can manage. Uncle smiles before shaking his head and going away. He comes back a little later with some cookies that he hands to him. Dad laughs and says something to uncle Remus, but Sev doesn’t care because he’s too busy with the cookies. He had tried to get some from the can yesterday but mom and dad had found him and hid them somewhere saying they were for the party.

Teddy comes a little later. He wants Sev to go and play with him, but he doesn’t feel that good yet so he shakes his head and get’s closer to dad. Teddy understands. Teddy has seen Sev having bad dreams before so he knows he isn’t feeling very well and instead goes to play with the other kids.

Then comes Victorie. Sev loves her very much, but she’s always following him around and never leaves him alone. She says she wants to play, and Sev shakes his head. She says it again and Sev says no again. Then she tries again and this time dad tells her Sev is not feeling well, but she doesn’t care and puffs her cheeks and goes all red.

Sev hides Babbity Rabbity under his legs an covers his ears. A second later Victorie starts trowing a tantrum and even tries to take Babity Rabbity away to make Sev chase her. Dad tries to calm her, but it doesn’t work. Mom, aunt Angelina and uncle Percy try to make her stop as well, but it doesn’t work and in the end aunt Fleur gets angry and takes her upstairs.

Grandma and Grandpa arrive a little later with the cake. Grandma says she is sorry for being late, but Sev just hugs her and let’s her carry him to see the cake she made for him. Then comes grandpa. He says he wants to give him a gift from his collection and Sev hides behind grandma because his toys don’t always work very well. The last toy he gave him started acting weird after some days and tried to bite him. Dad comes to save him and talks with grandpa while he takes the gift to make sure it is safe.

The party goes well after that and Severus enjoys himself. He eats two slices of cake and opens all of his gifts. Then he goes to play with Victorie and Teddy until they have to go home.

That night, Dad gives him grandpa’s gift and says its safe. Severus loves grandpa very much, but he’s still a little scared of his toys. Instead, he puts the small car in his bookshelf along with the others and goes to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was the first chapter. Thank you for reading and hope you liked it.


	2. At Uncle's House and the Trip to Diagon Alley p1

“Albus Severus Potter, Albus Severus Potter, Albus…” Sev keeps repeating again and again as he looks at himself in the mirror. He is eleven already and today he is going to buy the things he needs for Hogwarts.

There’s the sound of something breaking in the hall before mom shouts James’ and Lily’s names. James is almost five and Lily is three and they love to cause all sorts of trouble around the house. Sev rolls his eyes as the door of his room opens and his siblings come inside. James looks at him and gives him a sheepish smile. Sev rolls his eyes again before pointing towards his wardrobe next to the door. Both children nod and go to hide inside. Sev goes back to look into the mirror and repeating his name.

"Nervous about today?”

He jumps a little before turning to look at mom. When did she come in?

“A little” he says, playing with the hem of his t-shirt.

Mom crouches and gives him a kiss.

At that moment the door of his closet opens and Lily and James come out of it. Severus wants to face-palm because they couldn’t be more obvious. Then he sees mom shaking her head and smiling as they go out of the room.

“It’s fine,” she says after they close the door, “I am sure your dad will get them anyway. So? Feeling nervous?”

Sev nods. “What if I get sorted into Slytherin and everyone hates me?”

“Then they will have to deal with your dad, your mom, the rest of our family, and I am pretty sure I could bring the Holyhead Harpies into it as well.” She winks and Sev can’t help giggling a little, because he knows she would do it and imagines the scene. He still remembers when mom played with them and used to take him to training sometimes. Mom’s teammates would say how cute he was and give him candies and pocket money. Some of them still do whenever they come to visit.

He looks at mom and she has a big smile in her face. “See, with so many people I doubt anyone is going mess with you; but talking seriously I doubt that you are even going to need it. You are a very nice boy Sev, I am sure people will be able to see it no matter in what house you are sorted.”

“But-”

“Is fine Sev.” She puts a hand on his shoulder, “Dad and I will be support you no matter what. Also, your uncle Remus works in Hogwarts and I doubt he will let anyone hurt you.”

Sev nods, but isn’t entirely convinced. Of course he knows all that, is just that people aren’t always nice when talking about him…

“Everything is going to be fine,” mom hugs him, “I swear.”

Sev returns the hug.

“Besides,” she let’s him go, “if someone bothers you, you can always punch them and I will teach you later a couple of jinxes we used in my days.” She winks at him

Sev looks at her unimpressed, “I am pretty sure moms aren’t s’pposed to say those things.”

Mom raises a brow, “Well, as a mom it is part of my job to make sure you know how to defend yourself, you know?”

“Mom!”

“What?” she tilts head and looks at him as if she didn’t know what he means.”I was good at dealing with bullies in my day."

Sev glares at her but doesn’t know what to say. Then mom starts laughing and Sev covers his face with his hands because mom is being well… mom again.

“Can we go now, please?” he asks a little later because this is starting to get ridiculous and he would rather go and see Teddy than… this!

Mom stops laughing. “Well, you know how it is, growing with a big family.” And Sev knows, but still… He’s pretty sure moms are supposed to stop the kids, not tell them to jinx each other. Mom stands up and extends a hand to him, “Alright let’s go.”

They go to the living room and find dad glaring with his arms crossed at Lily and James who are sitting at each side of the couch very quietly. It looks like mom was right after all.

Dad looks at him and smiles “Ready to go?”

Sev nods.

“Alright, let’s go. And you two better behave or you are not going to Honeydukes.”

Lily and James groan.

Dad glares at them one last time before going to get the bag with the floo powder from the top of the fireplace, “Alright Sev, you go first.”

Sev takes a bit of floo and he calls the name of uncle Remus’ house after trowing it into the flames. Why are they supposed to meet in uncle’s house, he doesnt know. It would be much easier to meet at the Leaky Cauldron, but for some reason aunt Tonks and uncle Remus wanted them to go first to their house. Adults and their weird ideas!

He arrives to the house and quickly gets out of the fireplace to make room for mom and dad who are coming with Lily and James.

Uncle Remus greets him and cleans his clothes. He sees Teddy behind his dad and goes to greet him, before saying hi to aunt Tonks as well. Dad and Lily arrive followed by mom and James a bit later. Everybody says hi to everyone and just when they are finishing there’s a knock on the door. Uncle Remus goes to open it.

Outside is a blond man that looks familiar, but Sev is sure he has never seen him before. Next to him are a blond girl about his age, a little blond boy about James age and a woman with long black hair. Teddy shouts uncle Draco and goes running to greet all of them. Then he takes the girl’s hand and drags her to where Sev is.

“This is Delphini Malfoy. She is my cousin from mom’s side of the family. Delphini, this is my cousin Sev. He’s my cousin from dad’s side of the family.”

“Hi” the girl smiles.

“Hi.” Severus smiles as well.

“What is he doing in here!?” He hears Mr. Malfoy and dad say at the same time.

Uncle Remus just smiles and asks Mr. Malfoy and the rest of his family to come inside.

“Harry, I am sure you remember Draco Malfoy.”

Dad nods, but keeps looking at Mr. Malfoy the same way he does whenever Sev or his siblings get in big trouble.

“Well, this is Daphne, his wife and Scorpius, his youngest son. Delphini there,” -he points with his head- “is their oldest daughter. She is starting at Hogwarts this year as well so I thought it would be good idea to go shopping together. That way the kids can get to know each other before the train.”

Dad and Mr. Malfoy look at uncle Remus as if he had said the most stupid thing in the world.

“I am James and this is Lily!” James says practically jumping up and down. Everyone turns to look at him.

Scorpius hides behind his mom. “I am Scorpius.”

James nods, “Let’s go and play!” and with that he drags both Lily and Scorpius towards Teddy’s room.

Uncle Remus laughs a little before turning to look at Tedy, Delphini and Sev. “Why don’t you go and play as well while we adults talk for a bit?”

They all nod and follow Teddy outside because his room is already occupied.

“What happened? Your dad and my dad looked like they want to hex each other.” Delphini says when they reach a big tree in the garden far away from the adults.

Teddy sits down and thinks for a little before he turns to look at them again, “Once when I was little I asked dad why uncle Draco and uncle Harry couldn’t come to visit at the same time and dad told me that they didn’t get along very well when they were in Hogwarts.”

Several memories appear inside Severus mind and he almost laughs because that has to be the understatement of the century.

Delphini is looking at him by the time he gets out of his thoughts. “Are you adopted as well?” she suddenly says.

Severus points at himself because he’s still processing the question. “As well?” he finally says.

Delphini nods. “My biological mother and father” -she makes a face as if she had eaten some vomit flavored bean- “died during the war so dad adopted me. They were really bad people so I don’t really like to talk about that, and if you ask, I am going to punch you.”

Sev nods as fast as he can because he doesn’t want to be punched.

Teddy instead just looks at her in confusion “You are adopted?”

“I am.” Delphini says proudly.

“Then how come you look like grandma, because Sev doesn’t look like anyone in his house at all?”

“Ah… dad told me that my biological mother was your grandma’s sister.”

“Ohhh” both boys say and suddenly Severus had an idea of why uncle Remus had decided to have everyone to go shopping together.

“ So…? Are you adopted or not?” Delphini asks, getting Sev out of his thoughts again.

“I am. My other dad died in the war as well so dad adopted me when I was a baby.” Sev tells the story dad always says when someone asks about him. “So, what do you want to play?” he asks to change the topic because he isn’t really in the mood to talk about that, no that he ever is on the first place.

“We could fly on the brooms.” suggest Teddy.

“I didn’t bring mine and I doubt Delphini did as well since we were going to Diagon Alley. That leaves either taking turns, which is boring, or using it at the same time, and dad will kill me if we try that again.”

“You are right.” Teddy puts his hands on the grass and leans back while looking towards the sky. He then sighs and goes quiet.

Both Sev and Delphini end sitting down in the grass as well while trying to come with an idea. Suddenly Teddy sits up straight.

“Delphini can do this really awesome thing-!”

“That I am not supposed to do it in front of anyone except your family or my family.”

“I know, but Sev is my family and I trust him. I always tell him my secrets and he has never told them to anyone. Besides it would be good for him to know so he can help if something happens when we are at Hogwarts.”

Delphini doesn’t look very convinced. Sev can understand her. He has a secret as well and he wouldn’t tell it to her just because someone said so, even if he trusted that person (unless it was mom or dad, of course).

“I am very good at keeping secrets and wouldn’t tell your secret even if it killed me,” he can guarantee as much, “but you don’t have to tell it to me if you don’t want to. It’s your secret so is up to you who you tell, not Teddy.”

Delphini keeps looking at him for a whole minute before she suddenly smiles and gives him a hug. “You are really a nice guy, I like you,” she lets go and stands up really straight. “I am going to show you my secret, but you have to promise not to tell it to anyone because dad said people could hurt me if they heard me, ok?”

Severus is starting to have an idea of what the secret is about and thinks she’s probably right so he nods, “Alright, I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

Her smile grows. Then she holds Sev’s hand and takes him towards the other side of the tree where there’s a hole among the roots.

“Look at the hole and listen.”

Sev nodds.

Delphini opens her mouth like to talk, but instead of words all Sev can hear is hissing. Everything is fine at first, but then the memory of a giant snake appears in his head!

“Mom! Dad! Uncle Harry! Aunt Ginny!” Teddy runs inside, opening the door with a bang. “Something bad is happening to Sev!” he stops to get air. “He was fine a second ago but his head suddenly started hurting and he wont move or tell us what happened!”

Uncle Harry immediately stands up and comes to the door, “Where is he?”

“There!” he points towards the tree where Delphini is crouching next to Sev.

Uncle Harry goes out and runs towards the tree. He talks a little to Delphini and even hugs her, before taking Sev into his arms and coming back to the house. Delphini is right behind them and she’s in she runs towards her dad as soon as she’s inside and starts crying.

“What did you do to my daughter Potter?” Uncle Draco stands from the chair, giving Delphni a one arm hug.

“It was my fault daddy.” Delphini hugs him as well, “Mr. Potter said it was alright, but I think I did something really bad.”

Uncle Draco sits down again and looks at uncle Harry who hasn’t even heard what he said. He’s talking to Sev instead in a really low voice.

Mom and aunt Astoria stand up to get the little kids back to Teddy’s room. They came to see what was happening when they heard the noise. Aunt Ginny, who is sitting next to uncle Harry and Sev, stands up when Lily runs past mom and aunt Astoria looking as if she’s about to cry. She picks her up and takes her to Teddy’s room, saying something about Sev having a bad dream again. Teddy thinks that’s weird, because Sev was not sleeping like the other times, but he can remember one time when something like this happened before.

His dad had said it had been a bad dream as well, but even then Teddy had known that that wasn’t true. Nightmares don’t happen when you are awake, but he didn’t know what else to call it and Sev had never wanted to talk about it.

“What happened?” Uncle Draco asks, making Delphini sit on his knees.

“I…” she sniffles, “I wanted to show him my secret because Teddy said he trusted him and he looks nice, but when I started talking he went weird and… and…” she sniffles again. “I am really sorry daddy,” she started crying again, “I didn’t want to hurt him.”

Uncle Draco hugs her and she starts crying even more. Teddy can’t help thinking all of this is his fault. It was his idea after all and now…

“It’s alright,” his dad says, putting a hand in his shoulder before giving him in a hug. He then crouches next to Teddy, “I am sure you had good intentions and no one knew this was going to happen. It was just an accident.”

Teddy nods, but he still feels like crying so he hides his face in dad’s robes and lets his tears fall as they both sit on the floor.

“Before you say anything about my daughter,” starts uncle Draco, making Teddy turn around, “I asure you-”

“Shut up Malfoy,” uncle Harry interrupts him, “I know she didn’t do it on purpose. Believe me, I know what is to be judged by something you can’t help doing and it’s the last thing I would do to a little girl.” He then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, “Sorry, about that. It’s just…” he turns to look at Sev, who still has his eyes closed and his hands over his ears.

Uncle Draco nods and pulls Delphini closer at the same time uncle Harry does the same with Sev.

“Is he really his…? I mean, I already knew you had adopted him and he really looks like him so it’s probably an stupid question but…”

Uncle Harry nods.

“Why?”

“Well, Professor Snape did so much for the war and to keep me safe that I thought it was only fair, even if we didn’t get along. Besides, Merlin knows what kind of life he would have had if I hadn’t adopted him, with all the rumors after the war and all that.” Uncle Harry looks at Delphini, “Is she really…?”

Uncle Draco nods as well, “I thought that if you could adopt Professor Snape’s son I could… Well, we are family so it wasn’t fair to abandon her like that just because of who her parents were. Mother and Father weren’t very happy about it, not that I care. It has been the best decision of my life.”

Uncle Harry smiles, “I know what you mean.”

Sev starts moving and uncle Harry helps him sit down.

“Are you feeling better?”

Sev nods, “There was a giant snake…” he shudders and uncle Harry hugs him tightly.

“It’s alright. It is gone already. It can’t hurt you anymore. Now take some deep breaths and clear your mind. They will make you feel better.”

Sev nods and does as dad said.

“How is she?” uncle Harry asks.

“She’s fine, just a little upset.” uncle Draco rubs Delphini’s back and tells her something in her ear. She then sits straight and turns around.

“I am sorry.”

Sev looks at her, “I am fine, don’t worry about it.” He then turns towards his dad, “Are we still going go to Diagon Alley?”

Uncle Harry looks surprised, “We don’t have to go today if you aren’t feeling well. There’s still time, so we can go another day.”

Sev shakes his head and jumps from his dad’s legs, “I want to go. That way I won’t be thinking about it all day.”

“Alright,” uncle Harry sighs, “but first we have to see if Delphini and Teddy are up to it as well.”

“I am ok!” Teddy hurries to say because just like Sev he would rather go to Diagon Alley than to stay at home thinking about what happened.

Delphini jumps to her feet and hugs Sev, almost making him fall down in surprise before he returns the hug. “You really, really are a nice guy.” She gives him a kiss in the cheek and lets him go, “I am going to tell everyone to get ready,” and with that she runs away.

Sev’s face is a little red and uncle Harry is smiling at him.


	3. At Uncle's House and the Trip to Diagon Alley p2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the trip to Diagon Alley, and Freds appears as well because obviously he didn't die at the last battle.

Half an hour later everyone is standing in front of Olivander’s. Teddy and Delphini are almost jumping in excitement, Sev not so much. Mr. Malfoy opens the door and everyone goes inside, except for Sev and dad.

“Are you alright? We can come later if you want.”

Sev wants to say no, but he knows he’s being ridiculous so he nods and walks inside before dad can say something else.

“Mr Potter, good afternoon. Eleven inches, holly, with a phoenix pheather core. I remember that day very well. ”

Dad, who’s standing behind Sev smiles and nods. Then Mr. Olivander turns to look at him.

“And this is…? Of course! You look so much like your father that for a second I thought I was back to the day when he and your grandmother came to buy their first wands. Twelve and a half inches, wallnut, with a phoenix feather core inside. It was a bit rigid, but a very nice wand indeed.”

Sev smiles, one, because is not everyday that someone outside of the family says something good about him and two because he can remember that day as well. If he closes his eyes he can almost feel the sensation of touching his wand for the first time. Mr. Olivander keeps talking, but Severus doesn’t pay any attention to him. He is too busy wondering what could have happened to his wand after the war.

By the time he finally gets out of his thoughts, Delphini is already trying her fifth wand. She takes it into her hand, but Mr. Olivander takes it away almost immediately. He then goes to search once again among the thousands boxes inside the store. About a minute later he comes back and gives her a rowan wand with a core of unicorn hair. Delphini smiles as soon as she has the wand in her hand and red sparks come from its tip.

Teddy goes next. He is so excited his hair changes into ten different colors before settling in blue. He does not take long to find his wand. About four tries and ten minutes later he’s holding a chesnut wand containing a dragon heartstring core.

Now its Sev’s turn. Mr. Olivander takes out his measuring tape and sets work. The first wand he tries is made of pine and has an unicorn hair inside. It’s a pretty wand, but Sev can’t help thinking about his old one. Fortunately the wand does nothing so he gives it back and Mr. Olivander goes to search for another one. The second one is made of cedar with a dragon heartstring core. It doesn’t work as well. The tenth wand he tries is made of beech. It feels almost nice, but still can’t compare to the one he used to have. Sev shakes his head because he knows he’s been ridiculous again. He needs a wand to go to Hogwarts and is not like his is going to suddenly appear after eleven years. Still, he knows this is not the one, so he sighs and puts it on the counter. Another ten wands later, Sev must be looking as bad as he feels because dad says is enough and that they can come back another day when Sev feels better. He tries to protest, but knows dad is probably right (he usually is) and that his old memories are probably affecting him. Most of the time he doesn’t care about them, but on days like this they can get a little hard to ignore.

Given the wand fiasco, dad suggest they go to Flourish and Blotts to buy the books. Sev knows he’s doing it to cheer him up, and well, he likes books so he’s not going to complain. After buying their school books (and some others that are not for school) they go to Madam’s Malkin’s. Mom and Mrs. Malfoy take the kids to see the brooms because they are getting bored and Merlin knows one sure way to keep James and Lily busy is by showing them Quiditch things. Apparently it works for Scorpius as well. He wonders for a second if dad would get him a new broom if he asks nicely enough, but decides to wait until next year, when he can actually take it to school.

Sev, Teddy and Delphini keep talking all the time it takes them to arrive to Madam’s Malkin’s shop. Inside they have to separate, but start talking again as soon as they go out. After that is their potions things and Sev almost goes running into the store. Almost, because dad stops him before he can go too far. From there they get their cauldrons and a basic kit for potions. Sev manages to get dad to buy him an extra jar of beetle eyes and some salamander blood. There’s a potion he saw in a book that he wants to try with dad at home.

Mr. Malfoy says something to dad about him being bad with potions and Sev gets angry because his dad is very good with potions and bets Mr. Malfoy is just jealous of him! Mr. Malfoy looks surprised, but then dad and uncle Remus smile at each other. Sev he doesn’t understand why. Dad explains that he wasn’t that good at potions while he was at school, while Mr. Malfoy was. Sev isn’t very convinced because dad always helps him when he wants to try a potion and he’s good at them. Even his boss said so. Of course he isn’t as good as uncles Fred and George, but then again, they are supposed to be super good at potions because of their job. Sev has wanted to help them developing new products in the store for years because he loves their jokes, specially the ones that involve potions, but they say he’s too small. Sometimes they will let him help at the counter, but it’s not the same! Maybe he will try again later when they go to visit them, because there’s no way they come to Diagon Alley without visiting their shop.

By the time he remembers he was supposed to be angry with Mr. Malfoy, they are already looking at the telescopes. Those are boring so he lets dad choose one and waits with Teddy while Delphini keeps talking about all the models there are instead of choosing.

They go to other places after that to finish buying their things. Almost at the end they come into the pet shop. Their dads tell them to choose a pet. Sev goes directly to the owls along with Teddy, but Delphini goes to look at the cats. After a while, Sev chooses a white owl. Dad had told him tons of stories about Hedwig and he’s been dreaming with having a white owl ever since.

At that moment James complains that he wants an owl as well and mom tells him he will get one when he’s eleven. He isn’t happy. Lily meanwhile is pestering dad to get a puffskein because Scorpius’ dad is going to get him one. In the end, they go out of the store with two owls, one cat, and two puffskeins. Mom is waiting for them outside of the store with James who is still crying about wanting an owl. Then Lily shows him the puffskein and he smiles when it licks his face. They decide to call it Mr. Yellowie. Sev thinks is an stupid name, but they like it so he decides to keep quiet. The fact that mom and dad would get angry if he said it so doesn’t have anything to do with it.

After that they finally go to his uncles’ shop. It’s full of people, but Sev knows it like the back of his hand so he manages to get to the counter without any trouble and well before anyone in his group.

“Hello!” uncle George gives him a hi-five.

“Did you come to get this week’s ammunitions?” uncle Fred asks, coming to greet him.

“No, he’s not and don’t you try giving him anything behind my back because I am not going to stop mom from skinning you alive if they set another of your pranks tomorrow.” Mom lectures both of them.

His uncles don't looked very concerned, but then again mom says the same almost every time they come to the store. It isn’t as if Teddy and him pranked people _every_ Sunday at grandma’s house. Besides, most of their pranks aren’t even that bad.

“Sorry little guy, it seems we got caught.” uncle Fred gives him a little smile.

Sev shrugs, but then smiles mischievously to his uncles when mom turns around to stop Lily from touching the love potions. He is old enough already to prepare jokes without his uncles help. Teddy calls him and he turns around just in time to see dad shaking his head as he looks at him. He smiles before returning to talk to uncle Ron who’s helping in the store today.

They go back to Teddy’s house when is almost time for dinner. As soon as they arrive, the little kids go to play with their new pets, while Teddy, Delphini and Sev go outside to play with their brooms (dad and Mr. Malfoy had gotten them when they took their shopping home). They have been flying for a while when dad calls Sev to come in for a second.

As he goes into the living-room, mom, uncle Remus and aunt Tonks are sitting in the couch looking very serious while dad is sitting in a chair holding a long black box.

“What’s that?” Sev asks.

“Well, you see… we found this a little after the war while searching the house of a Death Eater. I recognized it as soon as I saw it and asked for permission to take it home to keep it safe. I was planning on giving it to you when you were seventeen. After today I thought that maybe…” He sighs, “Well, it doesn’t hurt to try, so I brought it when I went to get your broom.” Dad opens the box. Inside, resting on a black velvet cushion is a dark brown wand that Severus would recognize everywhere.

He look’s at dad, not really sure if it is a dream, but he nods so Severus knows this is real. Slowly, very slowly he takes the wand out of the box and clutches it in his right hand as a warm feeling spreads from the wand to his arm and to the rest of his body.

“I missed you.” Severus holds the wand against his body, smiling as if he had found a long lost friend.

“Congratulations Sev!”

Sev beams at dad -still hugging his wand- barely believing he’s found it again after such long time. As he looks around he sees that mom, uncle Remus and aunt Tonks are smiling. Soon they congratulate him as well. Mrs. Malfoy says she’s sure his father would be happy. Mr. Malfoy looks a little strange before he congratulates him as well.

“Alright,” says Dad, “you can show it to Delphini and Teddy, but after that we are putting it away.”

“No way!” Sev protests, turning away from dad. He doesn’t want to let go of his wand again.

Dad raises a brow, “You are going to be flying and playing around, and I am sure you wouldn’t like an accident happening to it, would you?”

Sev shakes his head sighing as he looks at his wand. “Alright.”

He puts the wand in the box before running to call Teddy and Delphini. Dad goes outside with him to show them his wand and then goes back inside after they have seen it. Sev want’s follow him for a second, but he knows dad is going to take care of it so he takes a deep breath and goes back to play.

“Potter.” Harry hears as the door closes.

“Malfoy” he answers the greeting, his eyes never leaving the children flying around the garden.

There was still some time before dinner was ready so he had come outside for some air and to think about today’s events. It seemed Malfoy had been thinking about them as well, judging by the strange look he had given Severus after he received his wand. Sev of course had not noticed it, or if he saw it, he had not understood what it meant. Harry had, though, and knew Malfoy would be coming for answers sooner or later during the afternoon.

“So…” Malfoy starts, but must have a hard time ordering his thoughts because several minutes pass without him talking again.

“Just spit it out Malfoy.” Harry finally says. It’s only fair he tells the man what’s happening, after all he already told him about his daughter.

Malfoy looks at him for a few seconds, probably wondering if he’s being serious before talking again, “What was that about him missing the wand? And the thing with the parseltongue? You said it was a bad dream, but obviously was not-” He frowns, “And now that I think about it” -he says slowly- “after Professor Snape died your friends were acting all strange during the funeral and then you suddenly appeared with a baby. I thought that was very strange even at that time because, well…” he stops for a second and crosses his arms, “I don’t know anyone that met him that wasn’t surprised about him dating someone, let alone having a baby. I mean, he was the Dungeons Bat. All he ever did was…”

“Dock points, give punishments and brew potions. I never thought you Slytherins thought that as well.”

Malfoy rolls his eyes. “Of course we did. He may have favored us in public but he was as bad as with everyone else as soon as we were inside the common room. Do you have any idea how many cauldrons the Quidditch team had to scrub after that fight in fifth year? My hands still hurt when I think about that. I was pretty sure not even Umbridge would have gone out with him.”

Harry gives him a little smile because he knows exactly what he means. “Ron said once that Potions would be much better if he got a girlfriend, but that no one would be crazy to go out with him so we were doomed.”

“Right? The thought of him dating someone is as strange as Voldemort suddenly giving free hugs.”

Harry starts laughing at the image and Malfoy follows because they both know just how ridiculous it sounds. It takes several minutes before they calm down.

“So…?”

Harry smiles disappears and he sighs before answering, “Well… You know how badly Professor Snape’s health was after the war.”

Malfoy nods. “I heard from Madam Pomfrey that there was no much they could do, except well, giving him some pain relievers and hope it didn’t take long.”

“Yes, well… Hermione found about this potion that she thought could help him but…” Harry starts rubbing the back of his head, “Well, we think something went wrong with it and…”

“For real Potter?” Malfoy looks as unimpressed as he sounds, “You find a potion that could help him and you and your friends botch it?” He then closes his eyes and sighs before continuing in a more calm tone, “So? What really happened to him?”

“Well…” He points with his head towards Sev, who’s flying towards the floor close to a tree at the other side of the property, “it was irreversible so I adopted him figuring that if I couldn’t help him that time I at least could give him a a happy childhood this time.”

Malfoy looks at him without blinking for a full minute before turning to look at the three children that have landed and are now taking a rest under the tree. “You mean he’s…”

“Was Malfoy, was.”

Malfoy nods before turning to look at him again, “Of course…” he says, stealing another look at the black-haired boy chatting, still on his broom.

“He doesn’t know anything, I imagine.”

Harry grimaces at that, then explains, “The first years there were some bad dreams here and there, but for some reason his old memories came back the day he became seven.”

Malfoy goes pale, and looks at him with eyes impossibly wide, “Merlin! You mean some of this memories, right? Because there’s no way...”

Harry shakes his head, “I don’t know exactly how many of his memories he has, but they are definitely much more than some of them. He was very confused when it happened. He didn’t even recognized me, or himself, actually.”

“Sweet-!”

“He’s fine Malfoy.” Harry tries to reassure him, “He told me once that many of the memories are very fuzzy so is not like he remembers every detail. Besides, most of the time they don’t affect him so he’s pretty much a normal boy. Given how things are, I think he will eventually forget all about being Severus Snape or just completely stop caring about it. And about the bad dreams, well, I have been teaching him some occlumency exercises and some other things since he was small to keep them away. Before today he had not had one in about two years.”

Malfoy nods, but is still pale and keeps looking at Sev from time to time, “If you ever need anything…”

Harry smiles, “Thank you. You and your family can count on us as well.”

Malfoy smiles as too, and then both turn to look again at the three children talking cheerfully under the tree.

It’s a little after dinner when the children can finally go into Teddy’s room. The little kids are playing with the puffskeins in the living room so Teddy’s room is finally free.

As soon as they are inside Teddy closes the door and puts the lock. Then they sit on the rug in the middle of the room facing each other.

Delphini is the first to talk, “What happened in the morning? Your dad said it was a bad dream, but I am pretty sure you weren’t sleeping.”

Sev frowns and looks at the rug.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Teddy says after a while, which finally takes Severus out of his thoughts.

“It’s fine.” he raises his head, looking quietly at the blond girl. “Delphini already told me her secret so is fair I do the same. I was thinking about what to say and got lost in my thoughts.”

“So? What happened?” Teddy gets closer to him, “I mean, I know it’s something bad, but you never want to talk about it.”

Severus tilts his head, “Of course not. You don’t tell those kinds of things to little kids.”

“Ok…” Teddy frowns and backs down, only a little. “Just so you know, that was only a little weird because I once saw a memory of dad with your other dad on it and you sounded just like him.”

Sev blinks, then shakes his head. “Sorry.” He looks at the rug again.

Delphini shrugs, “Who cares. I speak parseltonge, it can’t get weirder than that.”

Sev smiles at her.

“So what happened?" She asks. "Because even I know there’s something pretty strange happening and I just met you today.”

“My dad is Severus Snape.” he looks at Delphini, waiting to see her reaction.

“The spy?” She’s smiling, which Severus supposes its good, because he knows a lot of people don’t like him. “Dad told me he used to teach Potions at Hogwarts when he was a kid and that he helped the good guys to defeat Voldemort. He says he was very brave and it was thanks to him that we won the war.”

“Something like that…” Sev says in a low voice, half pleased by the compliment, but still not sure if he deserves it, even after such a long time. “Is just that when he died something weird happened and…” he takes a deep breath, “for some reason I have his memories. Dad says I would only had bad dreams sometimes when I was little, but I have had his memories ever since-.”

“The day of your party!” Teddy interrupts him. “That’s why you suddenly started acting strange!”

Sev nods.

“That’s just plain weird, but I am Voldemort’s daughter” -she shrugs- “so I can’t complain.” Then the smile disappears from her face, “Why did you…? Did something happened to your dad with a snake?”

Sev goes pale and can only nod because he’s trying not to think about that.

“... you fine?” he hears Teddy saying.

Sev nods, before taking several deep breaths, trying to empty his mind as dad taught him. “Just don’t want to talk about it anymore.” He finally says after a long while.

“Alright.”

The three go silent after that. Finally they decide to play explosive snap, but things are still a bit uncomfortable even after Sev tells them he’s fine, several times. Dad knocks a while later. Teddy opens the door and Sev knows dad knows as soon as he sees their faces. He then calls uncle Remus and Mr. Malfoy and they six have a long conversation. After that, everyone goes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are wondering about what happened with the snake. Sev is actually remembering when Nagini eats professor Burbange. Nothing nice to remember as you can see, so it's no wonder he doesn't want to talk about it.  
> Next chapter Sev goes to Hogwarts.


	4. Going to Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things:  
> The original plan was to include the sorting ceremony in this chapter, but it ended being too long so I decided to push it to the next one. That means you are gonna have to wait another chapter to see into what house they get sorted. Any guesses?
> 
> Also thank you very much to all the people reading my story. I am glad you are liking it and thank you for your comments and Kudos.

Sev is repeating his name once more in front of the mirror in his room the morning of the first of September. He knows he’s being ridiculous, but-

“Here again?” Dad crouches next to him and gives him a kiss. “Everything is going to be fine, you’ll see.”

Sev doesn’t answer, instead he gets closer to him and sits in his knee. He wants to go to Hogwarts –of course he does– but at the same time he wants to stay with dad at home.

Dad puts an arm around his shoulders and moves him closer while whispering comforting words as he does after a bad dream. A long time passes before Severus finally moves away a little, but he’s feeling better by then.

“You still love me, right?” he knows the answer already, but he needs to hear it before he goes.

Dad smiles. “Of course I do. Never doubt that. You are and will always be my son.” He gives him a hug before planting a kiss in his forehead.

Severus nods, returning the hug. Then, he let’s dad go and turns towards the mirror again. After a brief inspection, he deems everything is alright so he goes towards his trunk.

“Do you have everything?”

Sev opens the trunk and gives a final checkup before nodding.

“Even your wand?” dad retrieves the black box from the top of his chest of drawers.

Severus takes the box, opening almost with reverence. Then he carefully takes out his wand, feeling once more the warm sensation from before as he puts it in his pocket. He’s sure his wand is as happy as him to be finally together again.

“And one more thing.” dad says, this time retrieving a blue parcel from the same place.

Sev knows what it is as soon as the bundle is in his hands. “Why?” he asks even though he is already ripping the paper into pieces.

Dad chuckles, “It’s an old family tradition. According to what your uncle Remus told me, this cape has been passed to the eldest son or daughter in Potter family the day they go to Hogwarts. My grandfather gave it to your grandfather, and I received it in my first year as well. Now it is yours.”

Sev slowly examines the invisibility cape before actually trying it on. Then he turns towards the mirror to look at his reflection. Just as he was expecting, only his head can be seen.

“Wicked!”

There’s a flash of light and the next thing he sees is dad standing behind him with the camera on his hands.

“Congratulations! You are now officially ready for Hogwarts!” Severus turns around at the voice to find mom standing at the door.

Sev goes completely red and the camera flashes again.

“When did you arrive?” he protests.

“Moms don’t need capes to be invisible, you know?” she winks at him.

Sev hurries to take off the cape and stuffs it inside the trunk still red as a beet. “I am ready!” he says louder than necessary. “Let’s go!”

Mom smiles while shaking her head. Then she comes in and gives Sev a hug. “My baby is so big!”

There’s another flash of the camera.

“Mom! Dad!”

Mom and dad start laughing, and Severus huffs. Parents!

The platform is almost empty when Severus arrives. There are only a few of families inside, but he doesn’t see Delphini or Teddy anywhere. It is mom’s and dad’s fault. If they hadn’t been embarrassing him so much he wouldn’t have insisted he wanted to go that early. Now he is all alone and–

“Sev, you are here!”

Next thing he knows is that Delphini is hugging him and almost making him fall on the floor. He can hear someone laughing not very far away. Great, just what he needed, more embarrassment!

He takes a deep breath. 

“Hello” he says as calmly as he can because he doesn’t want to fight with her the day he goes to Hogwarts. They have been playing together most of the summer after all and now he considers her one of his best friends.

Delphini lets him go. “Hi!” she greets him, hands behind her back while balancing in the balls of her feet.

They look at each other awkwardly until Dad suggests they look for a compartment inside the train. After they find one, dad and uncle Draco help them put their trunks inside. That way they will be able to claim one before too many kids start to arrive. After that, they go outside the carriage to spend some more time with their families before they have to leave. Meanwhile the little kids entertain themselves with running around the platform since it is almost empty.

“Did you see them? How dare they!” Sev hears a woman saying as she walks by and he gets closer to mom and dad. Delphini must have heard her as well because she’s gone to stand between her parents. Mom and aunt Astoria decide is time to call the little kids back.

More people keep arriving and soon the platform is filled with families, but Teddy still hasn’t arrived. Suddenly the woman from before comes to stand in front of uncle Draco.

“Is there anything wrong with my family or their friends?” Grandma’s voice says. As Sev turns around he sees grandma glaring at the woman who’s now gaping at her. Behind her is the rest of the Weasley clan glaring at her as well and the woman must have noticed because se closes her mouth and goes away.

“Really, the rudeness of some people!” Grandma shakes her head, and then smiles as if nothing had happened. “Hello.” He extends a hand towards uncle Draco who promptly shakes it. Then she greets aunt Astoria as well. “And you two must be Delphini and Scorpius. I have heard so much about you two!” She gives them a big hug. “I am Molly Weasly, Severus’ grandmother. You can call me Molly if you want.”

Both children nod at her, but don’t say a word. Sev is sure they must still be trying to get their breaths back after her hug. Grandma’s bear-hugs can be a little too strong if you aren’t used to them.

“Harry, Ginny, how are you?” she hugs them as well before greeting his siblings. She then turns towards Severus and gives him one of her bear-hugs as well. “The first of my grandchildren in Hogwarts! I am so proud of you!” She lets him go and Sev takes a big breath. Her hugs are a little too strong, no matter whether you are used to them or not. “Congratulations Severus! I can’t wait to hear in what house you are going to be!” she starts kissing all of his face.

“Mom.” mom intervenes. “Mom,” she says a little closer, but in a lower voice so that other people except her and Sev can’t hear her, “you are embarrassing him.”

Using the moment, Sev gets away from grandma.

“Sorry, is just…” she takes a handkerchief from her pocket and blows her nose, “I am so happy!” and she starts crying.

Mom smiles a little, “Alright Sev, why don’t you do the introductions with the rest of the family while I calm your grandma?”

Sev nodds and gets out of the way before grandma decides to hug him again.

“Uncle Draco, aunt Astoria, Delphini, Scorpius, this is my family: the Weasleys.” Then he starts to introduce everyone.

Just as he is finishing, Teddy and his parents arrive.

“Sorry we are late.” says uncle Remus, panting as he tries to regain her breath. Behind him is aunt Tonks looking a bit pale.

“Are you alright?” Aunt Fleur asks to her.

“I am more than fine actually,” aunt Tonks smiles, “just a little morning sickness, you know?”

A second later all the adults are hugging and congratulating them. Most of the kids don’t understand what’s happening until Teddy announces he’s having a little brother or sister.

It takes about five minutes before everyone settles down and by then only ten minutes remain before the train departs. It’s now Severus’ and Teddy’s turn to be hugged and congratulated. As they do, the adults give small gifts to each of them.

“What are you doing in there?” aunt Angelina says when she notices Delphini is standing with her family a little far away looking a bit sad. “You are going to Hogwarts as well, aren’t you?”

Delphini nods.

“Then…” she walks towards her and gives her a hug as well. “Congratulations, little girl.”

Delphini smiles and soon she’s been enveloped in congratulatory hugs by all of Sev’s aunts and uncles.

Severus, Delphini and Teddy are almost at the train’s door when uncle Fred suddenly remembers he still hasn’t congratulated them. He hugs the three at the same time and uses the opportunity to give Severus a big bag while mom is talking to aunt Hermione. He winks at the three of them and goes away as they get into the train. They examine the bag as they walk towards their compartment and discover it is full of joke products. They put the bag out of sight when they arrive into the compartment and run towards the windows. Everyone is outside.

“Before I forget, this is for you three. That way you won’t get hungry on the way.” grandma hands them through the window a big topper with sandwiches inside.

Uncles Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and even mom roll their eyes at that.

Their parents come after that. They had already said goodbye, but nor Sev, nor Delphini or Teddy are going to complain. Then the whistle sounds and the adults back down as the train starts moving. The three wave their hands at their families until they disappear from sight.

Things are quiet inside the train as they travel trough the countryside. Sev is reading a book while Delphini and Teddy talk when suddenly the door of the compartment opens.

“So it was true after all.” An girl about their age says, “I can’t believe the would allow people like you to come to Hogwarts after all your parent’s did!”

Sev turns to looks at her. It seems dad was right, there’s always an idiot looking for a fight. Finally, he decides to ignore her and goes back to his book.

“Don’t you dare say that about my cousins!” Sev raises his head to look at Teddy who’s now standing in front of the girl.

“Or what?” She smiles, “are you going to hex me like your Death Eater parents?”

Teddy goes all red and clutches his fists. “Repeat that again!”

Sev closes his book and puts it on the seat as he stands up. “Calm down. Dad said there was going to be idiots looking for a fight and that it was better to ignore them.”

Teeddy turns to look at him, “But-”

“Daddy told me the same.” Delphini says from her place. “Getting angry and fighting them is only giving them what they want.”

The girl looks angry now and Severus almost wants to smile at that because there’s no way he’s giving her what she wants. “You are just cowards!”

“Nop, we are Slytherins” -Sev goes to stand next to Teddy- “and we don’t fight just because people say we have to.”

“As if it wasn’t the same! My mom says all you Slytherins did during the war was either help You-Know-Who or hide!”

“I think your mom is very mistaken then,” an older girl appears from the right side of the corridor. She has a Prefect Badge pinned to her robes. “Many Slytherins fought in the final battle and were very brave. Some of them even played an important role in defeating Voldemort.”

“And how do you know?!” the girl turns around. “I bet you are a slimy snake as well!”

The older girl doesn’t look very impressed, “Nop, I am a Ravenclaw actually, but one of the persons I admire the most was an Slytherin.”

“For real?” says Severus, wondering who could it be.

The older girl gives him a soft smile, “For real.” She then turns to look at the other girl, “And now, I think you are a third year Gryffindor, isn’t that right? What is your name?”

“I am not going to tell you.” The girl huffs, her arms crossed.

“Alright.” She then turns towards her right, “Hey, Richie, do you know her name?” An older boy appears next to her a few seconds later. “He is Richard McKinnon, the new Gryffindor prefect, by the way.”

“Hello,” the boy greets them before turning to look at the girl, “She is Cassandra Snowbell. Is she causing trouble again?”

“Trying, but don’t worry, I can handle it.” she smiles and the boy nods before going away. The older girl turns to the Gryffindor, “Ten poins from Gryffindor and you better leave them alone before I take more points and give you a detention.”

The girl huffs again and stomps a foot hile glaring at the Ravenclaw Prefect.

“Very well,” she crosses her arms, “ten more points from Gryffindor and detention. Congratulations, the year hasn’t even started and you already made you house loose points. Now I suggest you go away before I call one of the teachers on duty. I am still informing the head of your house though.”

The girl glares at her but this time obeys and goes away.

The Ravenclaw Prefect follows her with her eyes until they hear the door of a compartment opening and closing with a bam. “Sorry about that,” she says turning to look at them with a little smile, “unfortunately there’s still people like them, but don’t worry, Professor Lupin will make sure to keep an eye on her.”

Teddy nods and beams at her. 

“You are Headmaster Snape’s kid, aren’t you?” She says, looking at Severus.

He nods, and gives a step back.

“You don’t have to worry,” she smiles at him. “You know I said I admired a Slytherin?”

Sev nods again.

“Well, that Slytherin is your dad. I have always wanted to be a Potions Master and he was the youngest Potions Master in the last century and one of the best in Europe in his time. I have admired him since I was small.”

“For real?”

She nods. “I know that some people say really horrible things about him, but you just have to ignore them, alright? I actually think he was awesome.”

“Why?” Severus can’t believe someone actually thinks that about him.

She comes into the compartment and sits down after closing the door. “The professors have told me.” she turns to look at him, “Some of the kids used to bully me in the first year after they learned I wanted to be like him and at some point I started to think maybe they were right. Then Professor Lupin found me crying in a corridor one day and he told me there was nothing wrong with admiring him. He said he was a great Potions Master and a very brave man who had done a lot of things to help in the war. Some other Professors started telling me stories about him as well. Even Headmistress McGonagal said he was one of the most brilliant students she has had even if he had a horrible temper.” Both he and Teddy giggle because they know just how bad his temper was and the prefect smiles again, “So you knew about that, huh?”

Teddy nods, “Our dads have told us stories about him.”

“My dad said he was so scary in class that the boggart of one of his classmates took his shape when they studied them in third year.” Delphini says.

“Well, I didn’t know that.” She tilts her head and frowns a little.

“But then they did the spell and it ended dressed in an old dress and a big ugly hat with a vulture on its top.” Teddy adds smiling.

“Dad said he was so furious about it that uncle Neville almost wanted to cry whenever they had potions for a month after that. But it’s fine, even uncle Neville laughs now whenever he tells us the story and isn’t afraid of him anymore.” Sev hurries to explain the end of the story. She’s after all the first person who has said something like that about him. “You can even ask him if you want.”

“Well, that’s an interesting story and the Headmistress did told me his temper was legendary so…” She shakes her head and smiles again, “Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was that you don’t need to be ashamed of him.”

Sed nods, “Dad said the same. He said that he may not have been the nicest person, but that he did great things and that I should be proud of him.” He smiles at her.

She puts a hand in his shoulder, “Well, I think your dad is right. I am Savanna Cooper, one of the Ravenclaw Prefects” –she points at her badge– “as you know already. If you ever need anything or if someone gives you trouble just tell me and I will help you the best I can.” She stands up. Then she turns towards Delphini, “You are a Malfoy, aren’t you?”

She nods. “Delphini Malfoy. Nice to meet you.”

Nice to meet you as well.” she smiles to her, “the same as with… What’s your name?” she turns to Sev again.

“Severus, but everyone calls me Sev.”

“Great! I won’t have trouble remembering you name then.” she turns again towards Delphini, “if you need any help you can look for me as well. I know your family doesn’t have the best reputation after the war, so if anyone causes you any trouble just tell me.”

“Thanks.” Delphini beams at her.

“And you…”

“Teddy Luppin,” Teddy smirks at her.

The girl laughs and messes his hair, “I think your father is going to be proud of you tonight. Good job at defending your friends. And the same as with your friends, call me if anyone gives you any trouble, alright?”

“Alright. Thanks!”

She then opens the door of the compartment turns around again as she goes out.

“Well, there’s going to be prefects doing rounds so do call one of us if she comes back and see you at the feast.”

The three children wave their hands and say goodbye. Savanna closes the door and is gone a few seconds later.

The rest of the journey is pretty calm after that. They play with some cards for a while, talk a bit more, buy some candy from they trolley and even eat a couple of sandwiches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so a new Potter gets the invisibility cape and the tradition continues. Wahahahaha (evil laugh).


	5. The sorting

Is night already by the time the train arrives to the station. As soon as they get down, they hear a loud voice calling all of the first years. As everyone else, Delphini, Sev and Teddy walk towards the voice until they find a giant man standing at the other side of the station. Delphini thinks he looks a bit scary, but Sev and Teddy just run towards him with a big smile on their faces. Not wanting to loose them, she follows as well.

“You two get bigger an’ bigger every time I see you! Just yesterday I could fit you in my hand an’ now” he sobs, “now you’re eleven and about start your first year!” he gives then a big hug.

“Thanks Hagrid,” Teddy smiles after they are free.

“Thank you.” Sev doesn’t smile, probably because he is too busy rubbing his shoulder.

“Oh right!” Teddy turns towards Delphini who is standing a couple of steps back. He takes her hand and pulls her closer, “She is Delphini Malfoy, she’s my cousin from mom’s side and my other best friend.”

Mr. Hagrid blinks a couple of times, before he smiles, “Nice to meet ya.” he extends his giant hand, “I am Profesor Hagrid, the Gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures’ Professor.”

Delphini slowly puts her hand into his. She would rather not, but that would be rude. “Hi.” She says shyly, as they shake hands. Then, she retreats behind her friends as soon as Hagrid lets her hand go.

Mr. Hagrid smiles, or at least Delphini thinks he smiled, and goes back to calling at the first years to get closer. Both boy’s turn around to look at her.

“You don’t have to be scared of him. ”

“Just of his pets.”

“Teddy’s right.” Sev nods, looking serious for once, “Rule number one: never, ever get close to his pets without another adult.”

“Rule number two: the cuter their name, the more fangs, claws and more poisonous they are.”

“And rule number three: never, ever eat his cookies if you want to keep you teeth in your mouth, unless you want one to fall out early.”

Teddy nods, “He’s actually a very nice person, though. Dad says he would never hurt anyone on purpose and he always lets me visit him whenever I come to Hogwarts.”

“And he always helps us whenever any of the pets in my family gets sick. He also gets along really well with uncle Charlie.”

Delphini doesn’t know what to think about Hagrid. The good thing is both boys are talking nonstop so at least she doesn’t needs to say anything and just keeps nodding.

“...One time during the summer vacations he let us fly on a hipogriff.”

“It was interesting, but I still like brooms better. Dad said the same when I told him.”

“He has hipogriffs?”

“Yes, why?” both ask at the same time.

“Is just… Dad told me yesterday never to insult one. I don’t even know why.” she shrugs, “He just suddenly said it while we were packing my things.”

“Well, you would have to be pretty stupid to insult one.” Severus says, frowning at the floor with his hand in his chin.

“Why is that?”

“They don’t like when people insult them.” Hagrid suddenly appears next to them, “And you better follow your dad’s advice unless you want to end hurt. He knows what he’s talking about.” He turns to look at the rest of the first years, “Every one here?” he waits as the other children nod, “Alright! Follow me to the boats!”

Uncle Re- No, Professor Lupin is waiting at doors by the time they arrive to the entrance of the castle. He smiles when he sees them and they wave at him.

“Did you have a nice ride?” he asks as the rest of the first years finish arriving from the docks.

The three nod.

“Is Professor Flitwick sick?” Sev asks.

“He had a little accident this morning, so Madam Pomfrey suggested I came to receive you instead because he needs to rest his leg.”

“Is he alright?” Teddy asks.

“He’s fine.” he rubs Teddy’s hair, “I am sure he’s going to be the same as always by tomorrow’s morning.”

“Who’s Professor Flitwick?”

“He is the Charms Professor and he is really nice. You will see him today at the banquet.”

Professor Lupin turns to look at Hagrid who is herding the last kids “Is everyone here Hagrid? ”

“These were the last ones.” he says herding two boys towards the group.

“Thank you.” Professor Lupin turns to look at everyone. “Very well, first years follow me please.”

With that, they go into the castle and are taken into a small room next to the Great Hall where the professor explains about the houses. After asking them to wait in there, he goes outside the room.

Most of the kids are whispering crazy things about the sorting, but Severus already knows what’s going to happen so instead he looks around the room. He can’t remember very well his las sorting. He was too nervous and too afraid of being separated of Lily to actually enjoy it. This time is different. Even thought he isn’t that sure about being in Slytherin again, at least he knows he’s not getting separated from his friends even if they end in different houses. And talking about them, Sev turns to look at Teddy and Delphini and notices they ware very quiet.

“Do you think we could all end in the same house?” Delphini asks when her eyes lock with Sev’s.

“I doubt it.” Sev says in a serious tone, before smiling to her, “But is fine anyway. Is not like we have to stop being friends even if we are in separate houses.”

Teddy smiles as well, “He’s right! I mean, weren’t your dad and your grandma in different houses?” he looks at Sev, “And they kept being friends for a long time after that, right?”

Sev nods.

Delphini looks more relaxed now, even smiling a little. “What house do you think you will go?” she tilts her head a little to the left.

“Probably Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, like mom or dad.”

“You?”

“Slytherin, I think, but I wouldn’t mind being a Gryffindor like most people in my family.”

At that moment someone pushes Sev from behind, “Keep dreaming! You should be thankful you were allowed to come to Hogwarts after all your father did!”

Delphini puts herself between Sev as Teddy helps him stand up, “What? Spy for the good guys?”

The boy glared at her and crossed his arms “He was a Death Eater not a spy! Everyone knows it!”

“Of course not!” Delphini stomped her right foot. “It’s thanks to him that they defeated Voldemort, because of the information he gave them. He was a hero!”

The boy laughs, “Are you insane? Severus Snape wasn’t a hero! My mom said he would let the Carrows torture the students and-”

“Well, your mom is stupid and doesn’t know anything!”

The boy was so angry his face was completely red, “You…!”

“Enough!”

The voice made everyone look up to find Professor Lupin standing next to them with a grim face and his arms crossed.

“Thank you for helping your friend Miss. Malfoy.” he says with a little smile. “Though I would watch my language if I were you.”

Delphini nods, giving him a little sheepish smile.

Then the professor turns towards the boy, the smile completely gone, “In Hogwarts we do not tolerate that kind of attitude towards your classmates Mr…”

“Arthur Snowbell, sir.” the boy whispers, but Sev can still hear him and probably Professor Lupin too.

“Very well Mr. Snowbell then I suggest you stop this behavior unless you want to establish a record by loosing points from your house before having even been sorted into it.”

“No sir. I am sorry.” he gives a step back, turning to look at the floor.

Professor Lupin then turns towards Sev and crouches a little to look at his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

Sev cleans his nose with his sleeve, “I am fine sir.”

“Are you sure?”

Sev nods. He’s a little upset, but he isn’t about to let an idiot ruin his sorting. 

Uncle Remus continues look at him for a few seconds before he sighs and says in a low voice so that only Sev can hear him, “Alright, but if you start feeling bad make sure to go to the infirmary. We already talked to Madam Pomfrey and she will call me or your dad if necessary. ”

Sev nods, hopping that it won’t happen because the last thing he needs is his classmates thinking he’s a baby.

Professor Lupin stands up. “Its time for the sorting. Follow me please.”

As they walk inside the Great Hall, Severus can’t help looking at the staff table. He can still remember a time when he was sitting in there. How strange it feels.

Several professors notice he’s looking and smile. He elbows Teddy softly and they both wave at the professors. They have come to Hogwarts several times before so all of the staff knows them and are happy to see them. Headmistress McGonagal even looks like she’s about to cry so he looks at her and smiles even bigger as he waves. She returns the smile before taking out her handkerchief to dry her eyes.

Professor Lupin puts the Sorting Hat on top of an old stool and it starts singing. Sev doesn’t pay much attention to it. There are enough memories of it singing inside his head for him to care. Instead he looks around the hall, examining the clouds in the ceiling and looking at the students sitting on the tables. Dad said the hat will take your preferences into account when it is sorting you. Sev hopes he’s right because he isn’t sure he wants to be in Slytherin again. True, no one in his family would care. Uncle Ron even says he couldn’t be more Slytherin if he tried, but still… maybe a different house would be good this time.

By the time Sev gets out of his thoughts, Professor Lupin is already in the E. Evergreen Susan is sorted into Hufelpuff and the profesor calls the next name. It takes a long while to get to the L and by that time more than half of the first years have been sorted already.

“Lupin, Edward.”

Teddy smiles at both of them before he goes to sit in the stool. No one in the staff table looks surprised when the hat shouts Hufflepuff as soon as it touches his head. His dad smiles and says something they can’t hear when Teddy passes next to him towards his table. After that, Teddy waves towards Delphini and Sev and wishes them luck. 

“Malfoy, Delphini.”

Upon hearing her name, Delphini goes pale and turns to look at Sev. He smiles at her and squeezes her hand before giving her a little push towards the front. Delphini sits in the stool for a full minute before the hat opens his mouth to shout:

“SLYTHERIN!”

She takes the hat off and looks around trying to find Teddy and Sev. They smile and give her a thumbs up. Feeling more cheerful, she smiles a little as she walks towards the Slytherin table where everyone is celebrating. Professor Lupin smiles at her when she passes him and she returns his smile, this time bigger than before. When she arrives to the table, Professor Lupin reads the next name.

“Potter, Severus.”

The Great Hall goes silent as Severus walks towards the stool still looking at Delphini who is now sitting amongst the Slytherins. Just as he sits on the stool, she turns around and waves at him. Sev smiles, suddenly feeling that being in Slytherin again wouldn’t be that bad after all.

“What do we have in here?” Sev hears the hat inside his head, “Mmmm… I think we have met before, haven’t we?”

“You met Severus Snape, not me.”

“I see. Now you are Albus Severus Potter, is that right?” Sev nods, “Where should I put you this time then… I see cunning alright, also the determination to protect your loved ones along with the courage and resourcefulness to do it.”

Severus smiles at that. He’s about to ask the had to put him in Gryffindor when suddenly the image of Delphini waving and smiling from the Slytherin table appears in his mind. Somehow he still wants to go to Gryffindor, but the idea of leaving her alone makes his stomach feel funny.

“I see…” whispers the hat, “Very well, then you shall be a SLYTHERIN!” It shouts the last part to everyone in the hall.

Still a little bewildered, Sev takes off the hat and puts it in the stool. Then he looks at his uncle. He’s smiling and gives him a little nod as if telling him everything is alright. The Great Hall is still silent, but as he starts to walk people start whispering. Sev tries not to listen to them, instead turns towards Teddy who gives him a thumbs up along with a big smile and then at Delphini who is practically jumping on her seat as she waves at him. Finally, Sev takes a deep breath and clears his mind. Who cares about what people say when he gets to be in the same house with his friend. Besides, he remembers what mom said and can’t help giggling a little at the though of the Holyhead Harpies appearing in Howarts to stand up for him. By the time he arrives to the table he’s almost wishing someone dares to bully him just to see their faces when the Holyhead Harpies show up.

Delphini hugs him as he sits down. The older boy sitting at his other side congratulates him. Sev thanks him and turns towards the teachers table. Most of the professors are smiling while looking at him. No one looks angry and he feels a big load lift from his shoulders. He may be a Slytherin again, but somehow he knows this time will be much better.

Is late when Minerva McGonagal gets back to her office smiling and feeling lighter that she has felt in years. She remembers a very different Start of the Year Banquet almost forty years ago with a lonely and scared boy and marvels at the difference of what she saw today. The sight of young Severus Potter, smiling and walking next to Teddy and Miss Malfoy had left a deep impression on her.

“Judging by your face I asume the baquet went well.” Albus words bring her out of her thoughts.

“Of course it did!” Minerva says with feign offense. “I was just thinking about how fast the time passes. It feels like it was just yesterday that Teddy Lupin and Severus Potter” –there’s a snort that Minerva decidedly ignores– “were just babies and now here they are about to start their first year.”

“Indeed, how fast time has gone! Last time I saw Mr. Potter he was just a baby. I will have to congratulate young Mr. Lupin when he comes to for tea and send my congratulations to young Mr. Potter as well, would you?

“Of course, I am sure he will be happy to receive them.”

Severus rolls his eyes, “Isn’t Mr. Lupin coming to drink tea on Friday? Why just not invite the Potter brat too?”

“Well…” Minerva starts, not really sure about what to say. Truth be told she has not, in eleven years, found a way to explain to them what actually happened to Severus. It is completely ridiculous because she used to be the Head of Gryffindor and even dueled Voldemort in the last battle for Merlin sake! But for the love of magic, in eleven years she still hasn’t found the words to explain to Severus what happened. Harry had tried to tell him, several times, after they put his portrait in the office, but the sour man had, as always, refused to listen to him. It would have been easier if Harry had brought young Severus to the office. That would certainly had made the man listen, but for some reason he has always refused to do it. In the end, eleven years had passed and, as far as Severus knows, he died in the war and she still can’t find the words to tell what really happened.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea, I suppose, but there’s no reason to force the poor boy to come if he doesn’t want to.” Albus says, bringing Minerva to the present once again. Severus huffs, but Albus talks again before he can complain, “In what houses did they get sorted?”

“Teddy is a Huflepuff just like his mother. Severus is in Slytherin, thought I think young Delphini Malfoy had a lot to do with it if I go by what Harry and Remus have been telling me. Harry had mentioned several times how he wanted to be a Gryffindor like Ginny and him, but seems like things have changed recently.” She smiles.

“Excellent!” Dumbledore smiles as well, “I hope all three have a very enjoyable time at Hogwarts.”

“Enjoyable indeed.” Severus sneers, “Let’s see how enjoyable it is when the newest Potter brat starts causing as much trouble as his father.”

Minerva rolls her eyes. “Severus, please. The child has been barely sorted into his house. Couldn’t you at least wait until he settles down before complaining. Besides, you don’t even know him. Why are you so sure he takes after Harry?”

“Why? Every generation of Potters is the same! Pampered, arrogant and with a complete disregard for rules.”

Minerva closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again, “You know Harry named him after you and Albus, don’t you? Couldn’t you have a little more consideration of him since you share the same name?”

Severus glares at her and Minerva decides it is time to go to sleep before he starts preaching, again, about Harry’s inability to choose names.


	6. First Day of Classes

It’s barely six when Sev wakes up. Breakfast doesn’t start until two hours later, but he’s too nervous to stay in bed. Instead, he starts getting ready for the day. When he is ready, he takes his things and goes down to the common room. Delphini is already there, sitting in one of the chairs reading a book. He sits next to them and both pass the time talking until it´s time for breakfast.

They find Teddy waiting by the entrance to the stairs when the arrive to the entrance hall. They greet each other and then walk towards the Great Hall as they talk about the Quidditch game of three days ago. The hall is still pretty empty when they go in –which is no surprise as is barely eight of clock– so they take their time to choose their seats before finally sitting in the Hufflepuff table. More people arrives as time passes, and thought they stare a bit at the two Slytherins in the Hufflepuff table, no one actually complains. 

Some time later, they receive their schedules from their head their houses. They have only two clases together: potions and charms. They say goodbye to each other as they get out of the Great Hall. Teddy has transfiguration first, but Sev and Delphini have Herbology so its time to separate.

Profesor Longbottom greets Sev and Delphini with a big smile as they arrive to the greenhouse.

“Nervous about your first day?”

Sev nods, “I woke up at six, but Teddy and Delphini did the same so it’s alright.”

Professor Longbottom laughs, “Well, you definitely look better than me on my first day.”

“Why?” Delphini ask as Sev rolls his eyes.

“I was so scared of messing up that I couldn’t sleep.”

“But it was alright the rest of the day, right?”

“Well, it wasn’t that bad, except for potions.”

“Why?”

“I messed up the potion and Professor Snape got really angry with me. But don’t worry about that,” he added as he saw Delphini’s scared face, “I am just awful at potions and besides, Professor Slughorn is really nice so I doubt you are going to have any trouble.”

Delphini nodded, but stayed silent.

“Really, don’t worry about it. I have talked to professor Slughorn and he isn’t anywhere close as scary as my dad. Besides, not everyone is as bad in potions as my uncle.” Sev stopped and turned to look at Professor Longbottom, “Sorry.”

“It is fine. Just make sure to call me Professor when we are in class.”

Sev nodded before turning towards Delphini again, “Besides, I am good at potions, so I can help you in class if you want.”

Professor Longbottom nods, “That’s right. Sev is really good at Potions so he should be able to help you a bit if you need to.”

“I am not that good at Potions, it’s just you are too bad at them.”

Professor Longbottom starts laughing again. “Well, can’t argue about that.”

“But won’t the Professor get angry if he helps me all the time?”

“I doubt it. I think Professor Slughorn will be very excited to have him in his class to care. He really likes having talented students in his class.”

“But I am not joining his stupid club.”

“Language, Sev.”

“Sorry.”

“What club?”  
”The Slughorn Club.” Professor Longbottom explained. “He organizes reunions and likes to invite distinguished students so that they meet each other and…” 

“He just wants to meet everyone that he thinks is going to become important and see what he can get from them. Dad said his parties were really boring and that he made everything he could to avoid them.”

“And what if you get invited?”

“Well, I am not going. But you and Teddy can go if you get invited.”

“I think wont go if you don’t. It won’t be as fun is we aren’t all together.”

Sev shrugs but doesn’t say anything else as their classmates start arriving.

Herbology class is pretty calm as the only thing they do is learn about the different Greenhouses before entering to the Greenhouse One and learning about the different tools and how they are used, along with the safety rules in the greenhouse. After Hebology they have charms and Sev is glad to see Professor Flitwick doing alright as he stands up on top of a pile of books to give the class. It is only theory, but Sev finds it very interesting. Of course, the most interesting part is when Professor Flitwick does a demonstration of some of the charms they are going to be learning that year just before the end of the class.

They go to lunch after the bell sounds and sit with Teddy in the Slytherin table. Again there is some people who keep looking at them, but no one says a thing. Some of the first years even sit with the and they all keep talking about their first day and the different classes they had.

After lunch they go to transfiguration, and after that is potions.

They meet with Teddy and his classmates as they arrive to the stairs of the dungeons and the three walk together the rest of the way. Professor Slughorn is already inside by the time they get to the classroom and he enthusiastically greets Teddy and Sev as they sit down on the front desks. Delphini and Sev sit in the first desk and Teddy sits behind them along with a kid from his house.

It is, as Professor Longbottom told them, a pretty nice class even thought they don’t prepare any potions.

They spend most the class taking notes about the safety rules when preparing potions before the Professor started talking about what were they going to learn that year. Then he starts asking questions to see how much they know about potions. Sev doesn’t have any trouble as the questions are very simple and basic like how to properly maintain a cauldron or what is a beozar. He and dad have been making potions since he was really small so he knows those things by heart.

“Excellent!” the old man man says five minutes before class ends, “One point to everyone who answered one of my questions and five to Mr. Snape for his very informative answer about how to maintain a cauldron. It seems like you inherited Professor Snape’s ability for potions. He was one of my most talented students, you know? Thought your grandmother and father weren’t that bad either. I still remember the perfect Draught of the Living Death your father did on the first day of classes.” Professor Slughorn raises his head and keeps looking towards the ceiling for a few seconds before looking at Sev once again.

Sev smiles, “Thank you sir.”

Professor Slughorn nodds and then dismisses the class.

Severus, Delphini and Tedy are some of the first to go out of the classroom. After saying goodbye to their classmates, they practically run towards the second floor. As they are walking through the hall they are surrounded by three older boys. They try to escape but soon end up standing against the wall.

“What do we have in here?”

“A group of mini Death Eaters, I did say.” says one to their left crossing his arms.

The boy at the right nods cracking his knuckles, “Bet they are just like their their parents.”

“Then we should teach them a lesson before they get any funny ideas, don’t you think?” Says the one in the center, getting his wand out at the same time as his friends.

Teddy gets between the bullies and his friends, “If you hurt them I am going to tell my dad!”

The bullies laugh at that and one says, “So what? Is your daddy going come all the way from home to save you?”

“More like from the other side of the hall.” Sev points towards the left, and all of the bullies follow his finger in the direction of Professor Lupin’s office. Meanwhile Severus takes his wand out without any of them noticing.

“As if. Professor Lupin would never let his son be around people like you!”

Sev shrugs and then waves his wand to throw a slippery jinx at the part of the floor where the bullies are.

They try to catch him to take away his wand but fall down on their backs as soon as they try to move. Canceling the spell so that they don’t fall as well, Severus gives a little push to their friends and they start running towards uncle Remus’ office. Before he goes, Sev throws the bullies a Jelly-legs jinx for good measure. Mom had been right about knowing how to hex bullies and Sev now is grateful for her lessons.

“What happened to you three?” Professor Lupin asks as they run into his office, opening the door with a bang.

“Three guys…” Teddy pants, “they wanted… to hurt Sev… and Delphini.”

Delphini nods, “They said they were going to teach us a lesson because our dads were Death Eaters.”

Professor Lupin puts his pen down, “Did they hurt you?”

Sev, Delphini and Teddy shake their heads.

They hear steps and seconds later three older boys appear at the door.

“He tried to hex us, professor!” a third year boy says pointing at Severus as if that made more sense than the other way around.

“He threw us a…”

Remus decides to ignore the third years and instead leans on the desk to look at Severus who is rolling his eyes.

Sev looks at him directly at the eyes, “Mom said if anyone was bullying me I could jinx them so I did.” He shrugs.

Lupin nods at his answer, “And what did your father said about jinxing people?”

“Dad wasn’t very happy about mom teaching me how to jinx people, but he said that I could do it in self defense if I needed it, so I did.”

“And why did you needed to defend yourself Mr. Potter?” Lupin asks, now looking at the third years who have gone completely silent.

“They surrounded us in the hall and said they were going to give us a lesson because our dads were Death Eaters. Since they are bigger than us I though we had a better chance using magic to escape than fighting them. I made the floor slippery for them to fall down and then used a Jelly-leg jinx so that they couldn’t catch us.”

“Is that true Miss Malfoy?”

Delphini nods.

“Mr. Lupin?”

“That’s right. They even said that you would never let me be around my cousins.”

“Cousins?” one of the young men says, his eyes as big as plates.

Remus nods, “Mr. Potter is my godson, and Miss. Malfoy is my niece from my wife’s side of the family. Though that isn’t important right now. Instead” -he crosses his arms and sits straight in his chair- “I would like to know why three thirteen year old’s were bullying a trio of first years?”

The three third years go pale at that. If they ever thought that they were not going to get in trouble because he was their Head of the House, they were very mistaken. He had made a mistake like that once already and wasn’t going to repeat it.

There isn’t much of an explanation from the three Gryffindors, not that he needs it after seeing their faces. Any other day they they would have received a very long lecture before assigning them detention. Today is Teddy’s, Sev’s and Delphini’s first day of clases and he wants to hear everything about it. Therefore, he docks points and tells them to report in his office at seven before asking them to go. He will lecture them properly then.

After the last of the third years closes the door, Lupin asks the children to sit down and calls a house elf to get some tea.

“Ten points to Slytherin for good thinking in an emergency situation.” he smiles at his godson. “You managed the situation very well. I am sure your parents will be proud of you.”

Sev returns his smile.

The house elf pops back with the tea and they spend the next couple of hours talking about their day.


	7. Honoring the Family Traditions

Next afternoon after class, Severus takes Delphini around the corridors until they end inside an empty classroom. Teddy is waiting inside.

“Did you bring it?” Teddy asks to Severus.

He nods and pats a small lump inside his robe. “You?”

Teddy takes an old piece of parchment out of his pocket before putting it back inside.

Delphini looks at both boys feeling like she’s missing something important. “What do you plan to do with an old piece of parchment and an ugly cape?”

“Revenge.” Teddy says, dragging the last letters and extending his arms as if framing the words.

Delphini tilts her head, “I don’t understand?”

Both boys look at each other, before pushing her to the other side of the classroom with a mischievous smile.

“You know my dad was best friends with his grandad, right?” Asks Teddy as they sit in the farthest corner from the door.

Delphini nods.

“Well, they used to call themselves the Marauders and did a ton of jokes around the school.”

Sev nods. “My dad used to fight with them all the time.” Then as Delphini looks at him as if he was crazy, he hurries to explain, “Severus Snape I mean. They would be always hexing and pranking each other or something like that. And then there’s also my uncles Fred and George who were some of the best pranksters in the history of Hogwarts. They invented the little swamp in the fifth floor when they were in their seventh year.” he smiles for a few seconds while looking to the distance before talking again, “Professor Flitwick left it there because he was really proud of them.”

It’s Teddy who nods this time as he crosses his arms and looks at her with a serious expression. “As you can see we have a long history of pranks and pranksters in our families.” He stops for a few seconds and raises his closed hand, showing one finger, “As such is only natural that we honor the tradition. Also,” he smiles, “Sev thought that getting revenge on the guys from yesterday would be a good start.”

“We also want to break their pranking records, except for the part about the detentions. There’s no way” –Sev waves his arms– “I am getting that many detentions. Dad would kill me!”

“Same here. The amount of detentions they got is no joke and dad did say that if I ever tried breaking that record I could say goodbye to my broom forever.” He goes silent for a few seconds, before raising his head some seconds later, “How about we break the record by not getting caught? How does that sound?”

“Sounds good.” Sev nods once. “It’s decided then.”

“Are you serious?”

“Nop, that was our uncle.” Both boys say at the same time.

They turn to look at each other and smile. Delphini thinks it is a horrible joke, so she just crosses her arms giving them a blank stare.

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad!” Teddy complains “Besides, Sirius was also your uncle as well. I bet you also have done a Sirius joke at some point. Even your dad has made one. Is seriously inevitable.”

Delphini glares at him, “No way! They are stupid!”

Teddy looks at Sev for support, but he just shrugs. Having grown with stories about the Marauders, Sev loves the Sirius jokes almost as much as Teddy, but he’s not about to start fighting about that when there’s a prank to plan. If they want to break their record they have to be serious, no pun intended.

“Let’s finish the plan first, then we can fight about Sirius jokes all you want.”

“Fine! But it isn’t over yet!” she points his finger towards Delphini and she sticks her tongue at him. Severus rolls his eyes.

“Ok. So the part about the pranks I am in,” she tells to Severus, not looking at Teddy, “but how do you plan to never get caught?”

Sev looks around before waving them to come closer,

“Well, we have like 25 years of Hogwarts memories from my other dad,” he points at his head, “an invisible cape” -he gets it out and puts it on the desk- “and the Marauders Map.” he points at Teddy. “I think we will be able to manage.”

“What is the Marauders map?”

Teddy takes out the old parchment again and puts it next to the desk after unfolding it. He taps the blank parchment with his wand. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

Immediately, black lines appear from the tip of the wand covering the surface of the parchment little by little conecting one to another until they cover every part of the parchment. As the lines advance, Delphini sees small signs starting to appear in different parts of the drawing along with small moving dots everywhere on the map. Then, when it seems like there's nothing more that could be added, big black letters start to appear at the top of the parchment :

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

“I present you the Marauders Map!” Teddy, who has put his wand back in his pocket, points at the map using both hands.

Delphini examines it, passing her fingers over the parchment in wonder as she looks at it. “Is this Hogwarts?”

Teddy nods, “My dad and his friends made it while they were in school.” Then he proceeds to explain how it works.

“That’s…” Delphini doesn’t know what else to say.

“Awesome, right?”

She nods while looking at the small dots moving around the map. Uncle Remus is sitting in his office, while they three appear in an empty classroom in the third floor. Well, at least she now knows where she is. Then she goes to look at other places. She sees Savanna Cooper studying in the library and Hagrid talking with Professor Flitwick inside the staffroom. Then he goes out and starts walking towards the entrance. 

It's incredible how much detail the map has. Even the four common rooms are showed in it and Delphini has to marvel at how they must have managed to get into them. Of course there are rooms missing. The Chamber of Secrets –Mr. Potter had told them the story a coupple of weeks ago– of course doesn't appear, nor does the Requirement Room, but everything else is there.

Just then, she hears Severus coughing.

“We have a prank to plan.” he says, sounding as annoyed as he looks, “You can watch the map all you want after we finish.”

Rolling their eyes at her friends impatience, she sticks her tongue and sits on a chair as they start to plan.

......................................................................

Getting into the dressing rooms in the Quidditch pitch without been seen isn’t particularly difficult since they already know the castle and have the invisible cape. The difficult part is locating their lockers and settling everything correctly before the practice ends. It takes a couple of tries, but everything is ready by the time the practice ends. They go to stand next to the door (covered with the invisible cape of course) and wait.

As quietly as he can, Sev puts an sticking charm on the three third years clothing as they pass next to them. No one hears him since they are too busy talking among them. Then they walk away as soon as the last of the team members goes inside. They run into the castle and don’t stop until they get to the library. There Sev goes to look for a book for his homework while Delphini and Teddy sit in a table at the back.

As he’s searching around he stumbles and falls pushing some books that were on a table to the floor. Madam Pince glares at him from his desk. Sev stands up and hurries to pick up the books before disappearing among the shelves.

......................................................................

Minerva is working on some paperwork when suddenly there is a knock on the door. Taking her wand she casts a spell to make the door transparent from her side and see who is knocking. Seeing Remus standing outside, she cancels the spell and asks him to come inside.

“Did something happened?” she asks, putting down her wand and waving her hand towards a chair.

“Yes,” he nods with a serious expression as he crosses the small space from the door to the chairs “I wanted to tell you that today Adrian Bolster, Junnius Nettles and Marcus Odgen were covered in feathers inside the locker room after their Quidditch practice.”

Minerva blinks a couple of times, “Well, it has been some time since I seen a prank like that.” She leans into the back of her chair, “I admit students have been lacking creativity in that department in the last years, but I don’t understand would you would want to inform me about it. ”

Instead of answering, Remus simply sits down comfortably in a chair and smiles.

Minerva stares at him, trying to understand what the man is trying to tell her. Finally, as she doesn’t have any clue about what he’s talking about, she asks, “Well? Did something else happen?”

“No, as a matter of fact it was just a simple joke. Nothing else happened and they are already feather free.”

Minerva frowns, feeling a sense of foreboding, like she’s forgetting something, “Do you know who did it?”

Remus nods, the smile still in his face, “As a matter of fact I think I do.”

“I imagine you gave the culprit an apropiate punishment then.”

The man shakes his head.

“Why?” she asks, the feeling becoming stronger.

“Because I know who did it, but I can’t actually prove it.” Remus smile grows bigger and it only makes Minerva feeling of foreboding to become bigger as well.

“What do you mean you can’t prove it?” Remus is the last of the Marauders for Merlin's sake! “If someone would able to catch a prankster that should be you!”

“That’s right, but I am afraid those two have been trained ever since early childhood by a pair of the very best pranksters Hogwarts has seen in recent history, and" he stopped for a second to look at her directly at her eyes, "I admit to have helped once or twice as well.”

It clicks and Minerva groans, “You don’t mean…?” She turns to look at Remus who is practically beaming, “I mean, it’s him! I don’t remember him ever being interested in those kind of things. Not like that at least. And Teddy… he is so well mannered.”

Remus is now looking suspiciously like the times she caught them after one their pranks. She glares at him, but the man’s smile only grows, “You obviously have never seen them in the family dinners at the Weasley’s. They have been training for this all of their lives! Every Sunday afternoon and most holidays as well.” Remus looks like his about to start laughing, “In fact, Severus has wanted to work with Fred and George ever since he was big enough to reach the top of the counter standing in a chair. Besides, Delphini isn’t exactly a quiet child, either.” and with that he actually starts laughing.

Minerva shakes her head even as she smiles, “Remus Lupin!” she says in fake irritation. “You couldn’t had make things a little easier for me, could you?”

“Sorry Professor,” Remus says, still smiling after a good laugh, “I am a Marauder. Things like seem to be imposible for me, I am afraid.”

“And for the Weasley’s too, I suppose.” Minerva sighs, but is still smiling when she talks again, “Well, I suppose things were getting a little to boring in Hogwarts anyway.”

Both of them keep talking for a little more, before Remus has to leave to monitor a detention.

“What did you say… ‘why are you so sure he’s taken after Harry’?” says Severus, glaring at her, as soon as Remus is out of the door. “Now I will ask, why are you so sure he did not?!”

“For Merlin’s sake! It was just a simple joke Severus Snape!” Minerva turns her chair to glare at the man, "And you heard Remus, no one got hurt. Besides,” she crosses her arms, “didn’t you used to do the same.”

The man huffs, “The situation madam was completely different.”

“In what way? They pranked you, you pranked them. And you know you loved to fight them as much as they loved to fight with you.”

“I did not! Four against one could hardly be considered fair.”

"As if Lily never helped you, or the group of Slythering with who you used to be friends with."

"I still maintain my position Madam. Those were the exceptions, not the rule."

Minerva rolls her eyes at the man’s answer. “Well then you can’t complain about fairness in this case then. Mr. Bolster, Mr. Nettles and Mr. Odgen are all in third year while Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin and Miss Malfoy are all in first year. If anything, I think it’s the first years who are at a disadvantage, don’t you think?”  
The man doesn’t answer and instead disappears from the frame.

Minerva shakes his head and sighs before going back to work.


	8. Meeting Wood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not uploading for all this time. So many things happened that I barely had time to write and then I kept getting migraines so either I couldn't get anywhere close to my computer or I was just too tired to write anything. Thankfully the migraines are gone now and I am back with a new chapter and more inspiration than before.  
> Hope you like the chapter and see you in two weeks!

Severus has barely given five steps out of the dungeons when he's suddenly surrounded by Odgen, Bolster and Nettles into a corner of the entrance hall. As the three boys get closer Severus thinks he has never felt more trapped in his life. Nor the time uncle Remus caught him and Teddy flying on dad’s new broom at the same time. Not even that time Vicky caught him playing golf with her favorite doll, or the time when he was suspended for fighting in elementary school. It is definitely a first for Severus Potter even in he remembers the feeling from the memories of Severus Snape.

Backing more towards the corner, Sev glares at the three Gryffindors at the same time he looks for a way out. There’s none. 

Then again, he should have known better than wandering alone in the halls barely a week after pranking the trio. The thing is, Delphini and Teddy have somehow managed to get buried in homework even though they have been in school only for three weeks and have to finish three essays for tomorrow morning. As it is Sunday, Severus had no intention of spending all day cooped in the library, specially since he had told them all the week to do their homework.

That was how he found himself wandering around the corridors alone one Sunday afternoon. He had planned at first spending the rest of the day in the common room, but he still didn’t really got along with any of his classmates except for his two friends. Not wanting to spend the rest of the day alone, he had decided to go to his uncle’s office. That way he could talk with him if he wasn’t busy. If he was he could always read while drinking tea and eating cookies.

“We should take away his wand first, before he decides to do something funny.” Odgen says, snapping Severus from his train of thought.

Sev looks at the trio and grips his wand inside his pocket as they get even closer and he takes another step back. Maybe if he’s fast enough… He looks around to see if there’s a way out, but the trio are too close already and he is not goint be able to doge when they try to catch him.

“Good idea” Nettles cracks his knuckles as he smirks. “Time to pay Potter.”

And people say he’s dramatic. Sev would roll his eyes, but there’s a reason he is in Slytherin and provocking the enemy isn’t a good survival tactic in this situation.

“What are you talking about?” he spits instead.

“Don’t try to play innocent Potter!” Bolster stomps his right foot and Sev tries to step back again, only to discover he’s already standing against the wall. Meanwhile the trio of Gryffindors keep getting closer.

“What are you doing!” They hear a voice at the same time they hear steps in the stairs. A second later a boy of about fifth year comes to stand behind the Gryffindors.

“Go away Greengrass! This is none of your business!” Nettles and his friends turn around to face him. Sev meanwhile uses the time to silently move away from them towards the dungeons.

The boy, Greengrass, glares at them. Then Bolster notices Sev moving as he’s going to pass him and he turns towards him and tries to grab him. Not having another option, Sev back again towards the corner.

Noticing what’s happening, Greengrass moves to stand between Sev and the other boys as he takes his want out. “It is when you are bullying someone!”

Well, at least he has his wand out, Sev thinks as the four boys continue their glaring contest. Then again, it is not going to help much if they can’t get away from the Gryffindors.

“We are not bullying him. We are just making Potter pay for what he and his friends did to us!” Odgen glares at Sev who get’s closer to the other boy.

Greengrass snaps, “I can’t believe you are bullying a first year for that stupid prank!”

“Prank!” Nettles shouts, “He and his friends humiliated us in front of all the Qudditch team!”

“Well, it’s not his fault you three cannot do a vanishing spell even thought you are in third year already,” Greengrass deapans, “so stop bullying the first year just because you can’t be bothered to pay attention in class.”

Bolster glares at the boy and the tree take their wands out, but Greengrass doesn’t move.

In that instant they hear more steps coming towards the stairs. The three Gryffindor turn to look at each other before the pocket his wands and go running towards the main door. A few second later several people appear in the stairs. One is a girl with a plaid, another is a boy with brown hair and the last one is the Gryffindor prefect Sev had met in the train, who is holding a broom in his right hand.

“What happened? Noah said you were in trouble.” Mckinnon asks.

Greengrass nods, “Odgen, Bolster and Nettles were bullying the firstie. Something about that stupid prank in the locker room.”

The girl rubs her face with her hand, “I can’t believe those idiots are bullying a first year because of that! At this rate they are going to end being suspended even before the first game.” She takes a deep breath. Then she turns to look at Sev. “I am Lucy Welsh, the Quidditch Captain of the Gryffindor Team. Sorry about our three reserves. We will make sure to talk to them.”

Sev nods while coming out from behind the other boy.

“Are you alright?” Mckinnon asks.

Sev nods again. “Greengrass came before they could hurt me.”

“That’s good.” Mickinnon sighs, “I am going to inform Professor Lupin about what happened, but meanwhile you should probably try not to wander around the halls alone. I wouldn’t put it behind those three to try something else today.”

“Okay.” He’s definitely not making the same mistake twice.

“So, where were you going?” Greengrass turns his head to look at him.

“Actually, I was going to see if Professor Lupin was in his office.”

McKinnon turns to look at his broom and sighs before turning to look at Sev again. “Then I will accompany you. That way I can inform the professor of what happened and if he’s not there, I can take you back to your common room.”

“I can go with him instead if you want.” Greengrass turns around to face the prefect.

“No, is fine. I am the Prefect and—”

“And you are dying to try your new broom.” Greengrass intrerrupts him. “Just go. I will get Potter to the professor’s office and tell him what happened. If he asks about you I will tell them you went to the pitch to make sure they went there since we are going to try your new broom. You can always talk to the professor later.”

McKinnon stares at Greengrass for a few seconds before turning to look at Sev. “Are you alright with Ben walking you to the professor’s office? He’s my friend so you don’t have to worry about those three if you are with him.”

“I can go alone if you are busy.” He can always go back to the dungeons and grab his invisibility cape just in case.

“It’s alright. We were just going to try his new broom. I can always walk you there and then catch up with them.” Greengrass smiles.

“I admit I really want to go and try my broom, but I can probably wait a few minutes if you don’t feel comfortable with Ben.” McKinnon adds.

Sev frowns and looks at the floor. He doesn’t really want to go with any of them but… “Alright.” he finally says not feeling any better, but he supposes it’s better than risking running into those three again. “It’s fine with any of you.”

“Great!” Greengrass puts a hand in his shoulder. “I will go with him then and then catch up with you in the pitch.”

“I’m going with you then.” Noah smiles so big Sev wonders if is too late to ask McKinnon to accompany him instead.

“Okay. See you in the pitch then.” Lucy Welsh says. “Meanwhile I will try to drill some sense into those idiots. Not that it's going to be very effective, but...” she shrugs.

And with that prefect McKinnon and Lucy Welsh wave a hand towards Sev and start walking towards the door. Sev and Greengrass start walking towards the stairs instead.

“I am Noah Wood. Nice to meet you.” The other boy greets him as soon as they arrive to where he is. “You are Severus Potter, right?”

Sev nods, not really surprised. He's Harry Potter's son after all.

“Your mom is Gynny Potter from the Holyhead Harpies, right?”

 _That_ is surprising, Sev thinks as he nods again.

“And your dad is Harry Potter, right?”

Sev sighs, here it comes. He nods.

“Awesome! I bet you are an incredible Quidditch player with all that talent in your family. Man, your dad is legendary, and your uncle Charlie and your uncles Fred and George. I know all about them!”

Sev blinks and gives a step back. “You know I am adopted, right?”

The boy stops to think for two seconds before waving his hand. “It’s fine, it’s fine.” He smiles. Sev gives another step back. “With all those great Quidditch players in your family you are bound to know everything about the game anyway. Besides, I heard you are not bad at flying. Do you want to join my team?”

Ok, this is getting weird, very weird. Sev looks at Wood and then at Greengrass. The light-haired boy is covering his face with his hand. Sev wonders if it’s a good time to run.

SMACK!

“Stop scaring him!” Greengrass says, still keeping his hand close to the other boy’s head. Then he turns towards Sev with a loopsided smile. “Sorry about that. He… gets a little weird with Quidditch. Runs in his family or something like that. Heard from one of my aunts that his uncle is like that as well.”

Ok. Maybe he should run after all. He knows only one other Wood and he is… weird with uppercase W. Once he was waiting for mom after a game when the man came to talk to dad. Sev doesn’t remember exactly what they were talking about, but he does remember mom trying to hex him after something he said. He’s met him some other times after that, sometimes at the twin’s store and once at a party in uncle’s George’s and Angelina’s house. He’s always looking at Sev and his cousins and siblings really weird, specially when they play in their brooms, and uncle Fred said never to talk with him about Quidditch. Now Sev thinks he knows why.

Wood glared at his friend as he rubbed his head. “But–”

“There’s no way he is going to join your team if you keep scaring him. Besides, he’s just a first year. He won’t be able to play until next year.”

“Well, it’s never to soon to start recruiting new talent.” Wood says nonchalantly. Greengrass smacks him again and starts walking towards the first floor. Sev follows him. There’s no way he’s staying alone with that boy. The Wood family is definitely weird.

They arrive to the DADA office about five minutes later. Wood kept talking nonstop, but Greengrass just ignored him so Sev decided to do the same. By the time they arrive to the office's door however, Sev is more than ready to run away and to say goodbye to the two older boys.

Uncle Remus turns to look at him as he walks directly towards him and comes to stand behind his chair, but doesn’t say anything.

“Did something happened?” He puts his quill on the desk and turns to look at the boys standing by the door.

“Odgen, Nettles and Bolster were bullying him.” Greengrass and Wood explain the story.

Uncle Remus takes a deep breath and rubs the bridge of his nose. “Thank you for telling me. Five points to Gryffindor each of you four of you for helping a student in need. I will deal with those three later.” He sighs.

Greengrass and Wood smile and nod.

“Thank you sir.” Greengrass says, before waving at Sev. “See you later Potter.”

Sev nods.

“Think about it alright?” Wood says and Sev gets a little closer to his uncle. Greengrass rolls his eyes and then drags his friend out of the office.

“I see you met Wood.” Uncle smiles.

Sev glares at him.


End file.
